iFind Out The Truth About My Dad
by abracadabra94
Summary: Freddie finds out why Sam has hated him all these years, and it might just lead them to go on an incredible journey together. Seddie. T, but probably nothing worse than some mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! This is my first attempt at fanfiction, although not my first at writing. Please just give it a chance. I'm open to critical reviews, as long as you have constructive criticism for me, so please review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly, but if I did, I probably wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it.**

**Freddie's POV**

_Today was the day. Finally. I had been waiting a long time for this. Now it would only be a few more minutes before it happened. I was pretty nervous, and my stomach kept doing flip-flops and making me feel sick._

_As I looked around the elaborately decorated room, I had to wonder how the hell I ended up here. If someone had told me five years ago that I would be here today, I would've told them they were crazy. I guess a lot can happen in five years. Heck, a lot can happen in five weeks. I thought back, trying to pinpoint the exact moment it all started, and I came back to that day in Ridgeway's hall after school, shortly before graduation. The day I got in what would turn out to be the most important fight I would ever be involved in. The day that would lead me to go on a journey I never imagined I would go on. The day I found out the truth about my dad._

_**5 years ago…**_

She was at it again. I just sighed and tried my best not to get angry. "Sam, I didn't get much sleep last night, I got a B minus on my history report, and I am _not_in the mood to deal with this right now."

"Oh wah," she said, making a fake crying noise. "Please Benson, no one likes a whiner."

"I mean it Sam." Boy she was really getting on my nerves today. "Just drop it now."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you're in love with someone who'll never love you back."

"You don't know that. Carly could come around."

"Yeah, right. And I maybe I could become Queen of England. Face it Fredwina, no girl in her right mind could ever love a dork like you. Especially Carly. So why don't you just give up already?" Her eyes seemed to mimic the smirk on her lips as she said the words spitefully.

Something inside snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. "That's it Sam! I'm not putting up with this shit anymore! I know you're Carly's friend but that doesn't mean I have to put up with you when you keep treating me like this. I don't even know why Carly would ever want to be friends with such a self-centered, inconsiderate excuse for a human being like you."

Sam's smirk quickly faded. As she stared at me menacingly her blue eyes turned a dark turquoise-gray. Her attitude oozed complete hatred toward me, and she looked at me like she thought I was the lowest form of life to ever step foot on the planet. I had to admit, it scared me a little. I'd seen her mad at me before, but never this mad. She spoke, and this time there was no teasing in her voice. She said only a few words, but they cut me like a knife.

"I hate you." She didn't yell it. No one in the crowded hall at Ridgeway heard it but me. Maybe it would have been better if she had yelled. I was used to the yelling, and I could handle it. But this was worse than yelling. Her voice when she uttered these three simple words was meaner than all the yells and threats she had ever let come out of her mouth put together. Usually, even when she yelled, there were many levels to her voice. There was anger obviously, but also underlying tones of sarcasm and sadness. Now I only heard one thing in her steady, non-hesitant voice: pure, undeniable hatred.

"Why?" I wasn't being nearly as quiet as she was. "Why, of all people on Earth did you choose to hate me? What have I ever done to you?"

"What did you do? Ha, nothing except ruin my entire life."

"How? Now I know that you think I'm nerdy and that it annoys you but that doesn't mean—"

"I didn't mean with your nerdiness stupid. No, you started making my life miserable the day you were born."

"But I didn't even know you then, how could I—"

"Well I guess it doesn't surprise me that your psycho mother wouldn't tell you about our dads. It might scare her precious Fredward." And with that she gave me one last evil stare and headed toward the double-doors to exit the school.

"Our dads? What about our dads?" I called after her, but she was already gone.

**Hello again! Did you miss me?...Well! There's no need to be rude.**

**Please review. Whether what you have to say is positive or negative, I want your feedback!**

**Peace out for now!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hola gente! For those of you who don't know that means hello people! Thank you to all the people who reviewed/favorite/alerted this story. It made me feel special. **

**I'm going to switch to Sam's perspective for this chapter. I'll get back to Freddie in chapter 3. I think I'm mostly just going to switch back and forth between Freddie and Sam, but there might be a couple other perspectives thrown in here and there. Not sure yet. Let me know what you think!**

**Now, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly. And since you are reading this, I guessing you don't either, so there.**

**Sam's POV**

That nub. That stupid, annoying little nub. He had the nerve to think he was better than me; that Carly shouldn't be my friend; that my hating him was all my fault and he was just as innocent as a lamb. Well I had the right to hate him. It was his fault I was stuck living with a drunken excuse for a mother who didn't even care what happened to me.

I needed ham. And I needed it immediately. I didn't even make it all the way home, I just stopped when I came to Bushwell Plaza, parked my car in the first available parking spot I saw, and went inside where I ran to the elevator, ignoring Lewbert's screams about people running in his lobby.

When I got to the 8th floor I immediately headed to apartment 8C. Luckily, no dweebs from across the hall had showed up. I went into the Shay's apartment without knocking and started rummaging through the fridge.

"Well just come on in and help yourself to my food," came a sarcastic voice from the couch.

"Carly, where's your ham!"

"We ran out. There's some chili in there though, if you want that."

I found the Tupperware container of chili behind some sort of green goo in a bowl. I grabbed a spoon and started digging into the spicy stew, not even bothering to use a bowl or heat it up.

"Well that's attractive," giggled Carly, pointing to the brownish-red chili juice dribbling down my chin as I walked toward the couch to watch Girly Cow with her.

"Ah, cut the chiz Shay," I said, wiping my chin with my sleeve. "I'm not in the mood."

"I'm sorry," she said. "What's wrong?"

"That stupid dork. He thinks he's soooo great and soooo much better than me just because I pick on him sometimes."

"Sometimes? Sam, has there ever been a time when you weren't picking on him?"

"Well, no, but he's just so annoying! And he doesn't get why I hate him."

"Now Sam, we've talked about this. You know that's not his fault."

"Well he could at least act like he's sorry about it!"

"I think he still doesn't know. I'm sure if he knew he would understand."

"But I can't tell him. His mom doesn't want me to be the one to tell him just cause she thinks I might get mad again and start beating him up." Not that it wasn't entirely possible, but it still made me angry. "Will you tell him for me?" I begged, though I knew what the answer would be.

"You know I can't do that. I don't even know all the details. Besides it really isn't any of my business. This is between Freddie, his family, and your family."

I sighed. "Well I kind of said something about it by accident today when he made me mad. He didn't know what I was talking about though. Maybe he'll ask his nub of a mother and she'll finally tell him the truth."

"Sam, it's not nice to call people's mothers nubs." I was about to protest that it was okay when they were indeed nubs, when a tall, skinny man with brown hair ran into the living room carrying a flaming toilet plunger and screaming. Carly didn't ask her brother any questions, just got up and used one of their many fire extinguishers to put the fire out.

"Thanks," said Spencer, setting the plunger down and wiping the sweat from his brow. "That was a close one." I had to wonder how in the world he had set something like that on fire. Then again, this was Spencer. I figured it was probably best I didn't ask.

I had just finished my chili when there was a knock on the door and Carly got up from her seat to answer it.

"Go away Fredwardo," I said to the teenage boy that Carly let into her apartment. Ugh, I did not want to be around him right now. Just looking at him made me mad again.

"No! This isn't even your house, you can't make me leave."

"Oh yeah?" I got up from the couch and walked towards him, my fists clenched tight. "Wanna bet Dorkface?"

"Sam, no," said Carly with a warning look on her face. "Leave Freddie alone. He has as much of a right to be here as you do."

"Well if he's staying then I'm leaving," I said and walked out the door.

"Sam, wait!" I heard Carly call after me, but I didn't stop. I kept going, not really even paying attention to what I was doing in my angry daze, until I found myself back home in my room, the sound of my drunken mother and her current boyfriend coming from the room next to mine.

I tried to ignore it by focusing on the picture sitting on the desk next to my bed. It was a simple picture. There was a tall guy with curly hair the color of dirt and bright blue eyes smiling and hugging a young woman around the waist from behind. The women had straight blond hair and gray eyes, and she smirked as she held a baby with the same blue eyes as the man. Beside them was an older woman with graying hair, holding a baby that looked just like the first, only its clothes looked much cleaner and it didn't look like as much of a troublemaker. I picked up the photo and traced the lines of the man's face with my finger as I saw a single tear splash onto the glass of the frame.

Mom had told me about Dad when I was just 3 years old. I think she didn't even mean to tell me yet, but she was so drunk at the time she couldn't help it. 15 years later and the uncertainty still got to me. I think it would be a little better if I just knew whether or not he was dead. Of course, it was pretty unlikely that he had survived all these years, but I just couldn't shake this one glimmer of hope that he was still out there somewhere, and would come back someday to fix our broken family. It's not like there was anything I could do about it though. I guess that was the worst part: knowing that even if he was alive, I still couldn't do anything that would bring him back. I was helpless, and I hated it with all my heart.

**Sorry if Sam seemed a little OOC at the end of this chapter. I'll try and get the next chapter up soon, if you guys want me to keep writing it.**

**Review por favor. **

**Hasta luego! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello people of Jupiter! Oh, wait, you're not from Jupiter? Earth you say? Oh, well your loss. Jupiter's pretty awesome.**

**Well, regardless of your home planet, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned iCarly, this disclaimer would cease to exist.**

**Freddie's POV**

"Well if he's staying then I'm leaving." And with that she quickly opened the door to the apartment and took off.

"Sam, wait!" Carly called after her. She started to head out the door to follow her angry friend, but realized it was useless to try to reason with Sam when she was in a bad mood. She could always talk to her later after Sam had had the chance to cool off a little.

Carly sighed and flopped onto the couch. I could tell that even though she had learned to deal with mine and Sam's bickering, it still upset her a little. "So why did you come here?" she asked, trying to sound as pleasant as possible, although the words didn't come out quite right. "Sorry," she said. "That sounded mean. I meant…"

"It's okay," I said. "I knew what you meant. To answer your question I'm actually not staying long. I just came to get my laptop. I left it over here yesterday after iCarly rehearsal."

"Oh, well, go right ahead then," she said, but she didn't look at me. She just kept staring off into space as if in a daze. I headed up the stairs to the studio and got my computer from the cart that held all the iCarly tech equipment. I noticed a little brown sticky stuff on the laptops lid: barbeque sauce. Sam, obviously. I chuckled to myself a little, and then realized I was still mad at her. I also realized that wasn't really true anymore. No matter how mad Sam made me, I could never seem to stay angry with her for long. Already I was having trouble remembering what the argument we had had just a little over an hour ago was about. It didn't even seem that important anymore. There was just one thing that still bugged me though; what did Sam mean when she talked about our dads?

I never really knew much about my dad, except that he had died in a car crash when I was really little. I don't even remember him, except this one vague memory I have of him when I was just about to turn two years old. All I remember is he was going somewhere, and he told me I would have to be the man of the house and take care of Mom while he was gone. I didn't really know what he was talking about at the time, but I wanted to please him so I had just nodded my little head. He smiled down at me and told me he loved me, and he would be back soon.

That was the last time I ever saw him. Apparently he got in the car accident sometime while he was on this trip. Mom didn't talk about it much, so I didn't really know any of the details. I didn't even know what happened to the body. There was no grave that I knew of, and I had never seen his ashes, so I guessed something happened that the body couldn't be recovered. I tried to ask my mom about it once, but she just said she couldn't talk about it yet.

But what did Sam mean when she said 'our dads?' As far as I knew, our families didn't know each other until I met Sam in sixth grade, when we both started going to Ridgeway Junior High. I knew that I wouldn't find the answer just standing around in the studio, and Carly was probably starting to wonder what was taking me so long, so I started back down the steps. I could ask my mom about all this later. Maybe enough time had passed now that she would be able to talk about it.

"Find your laptop?" said Carly when she saw me. She wasn't quite so spaced out anymore.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to stick around for a while and watch some TV?"

"Nah," I said. "There's something I've got to do at home."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Uh, nothing," I lied. "Just some chores and stuff."

"Okay," she said, obviously tired. "See you later then."

"Later," I said and headed across the hall to my own apartment where I found my mom vacuuming the rug, just like she always did on her day off from work.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hello Freddie," said my mom cheerfully as she switched the vacuum off. "How was your day?"

"Fine," I lied. I had been lying a lot today. I kind of didn't want to ask my mom what was on my mind just yet. I wasn't sure how she would react to me bringing up my dad. After all, last time I brought him up it didn't go over so well. Mom decided I must be done talking and started vacuuming again. I waited for a while, relaxing on the couch until she was done, and I knew I couldn't put off my question any longer.

"Hey, Mom?" I started.

"Yes?"

"Um, can I ask you something?"

"Of course Fredward. What is it?" she came and sat on the couch next to me.

"Well, you see, today at school I got into an argument with Sam…"

"Did she hurt you? I told you not to spend so much time around that girl. She's nothing but trouble. Tell me where she hurt you. Did she punch you in the face again? Or did she…"  
"Mom, no, she didn't hurt me. I'm fine. It's just it turned into a pretty big argument. She was really angry, and she told me she hated me because I ruined her life. When I asked how, she said something about you not telling me…not telling me about…"

"Not telling you about what Fredward?" her voice was full of concern.

I sighed. I could tell this probably wasn't going to go well. "She said…she said she wasn't surprised you still hadn't told me about…our dads." My mom didn't respond. She just sat there motionless, refusing to look me in the eyes.

"Mom," my voice was barely a whisper, "What did she mean when she said that? Is there something you haven't been telling me about Dad?" I saw my mom's eyes start to get wet, and the tears started to fall down her cheeks. I reached over and tried to hug her, but she got up from the couch suddenly.

"I'm sorry Freddie," she said. "I-I can't do this."

"Can't do what?"

"I…I'm sorry," she repeated, "I just can't." She ran off toward her bedroom, wiping tears off her face. I really wished I hadn't said anything. Not only hadn't it helped at all, but now my mom would be upset for the rest of the day. I hated seeing my mom upset like this, but I still had other problems. I just had to find out what Sam meant, and seeing as Sam was still mad at me, I figured I had to come up with a new plan. I knew I couldn't ask Mom again, for obvious reasons. I figured Sam's mom would probably know, but I wasn't about to ask her for help. In all the years I had known Sam, never once had I seen her mother when she wasn't either drunk or hung over. Either way wasn't very pleasant, and probably would just be a waste of my time anyway. I thought for a while longer before I finally had an idea. I picked up the phone and dialed the number quickly. The phone started to ring on the other end. I had to hope this would work. This was my last chance. If this didn't work, I was out of options.

"Hello?" answered a kind, old voice on the other end.

"Hey Grandma," I said, "It's me, Freddie."

**Grandma Benson's POV**

"Hey Grandma, it's me, Freddie." It had been so long since I talked to my grandson, I barely recognized his voice. It was no longer the voice of a little boy. In fact, it reminded me a lot of his father's.

"Well hello Freddie!" I said. "My, don't you sound grown up! This is certainly unexpected for you to call me like this. Is everything alright? Is your mom okay?" Usually I didn't hear much from Freddie or his mother, unless one of us was coming to visit the other for the holidays, or if something was wrong. Since it was May and no major family holidays were coming up, I was worried it would be the latter.

"Yeah, Mom's fine," Freddie reassured me. "Well, she's actually a little upset right now, but she'll be alright. That's not why I called."

"Oh, well then what is it honey?"

"Well, you see, I was kind of hoping we could talk about…my dad."

I was a little shocked at first. It had been a long time since I had spoken to anyone about my son.

"Grandma? Are you still there?"

"Oh, yes, yes I'm still here. Um, have you talked to your mother about this at all?"

"I just asked her about him a little while ago but she got really upset and couldn't talk about it."

"Oh, I see. Well, um, what made you bring this up today?"

"I got in a fight with my friend, Sam. You know, the vicious blonde you met that one time at Thanksgiving?"

Actually, I knew who Sam was long before then, but Freddie didn't know that. "The one who barged in and stole my pumpkin pie?" I chuckled. "Yes, I remember her. What were you fighting about?"

"It's not important, really. It's just, well, after a while she got really mad and started saying all this stuff that didn't make since, and then she said that she wasn't surprised that mom didn't tell me about our dads. I didn't even think our dads knew each other. You wouldn't happen to know what she was talking about, would you?"

I sighed. I knew this day would have to come sooner or later. "Yes, Freddie," I said after a brief pause. "I do know what she was talking about. Are you sitting down?"

"Yes, why?"

"Good, because you're going to need to be sitting down for a while." I took a deep breath and began to tell the story that I had not told to anyone in so many years. "Well, for starters," I said, "Your father didn't die in a car accident."

**I don't know if I portrayed Freddie's mom and grandmother quite right or not. Please tell me what you think so I know what I need to improve on for the rest of the story. I think this story is going to be kind of long, but I still don't have it completely worked out, so suggestions are very much welcomed! **

** review. Even just an emoticon would be welcomed if you have nothing else to say, although I would prefer some criticism. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Goodbye! Er, I mean, hello! How are you this fine morning/day/evening? Oh, you don't want to talk to me? Well fine then! I don't have to give you the next chapter to the story. Now, that's more like it! **

**Oh, and before I start, a big thanks to all my lovely reviewers. Your reviews make my day much more than I'm sure reading my story does for any of you. **** And a special thanks to IronishRose and EyesOfAWolf202 for all the constructive criticism. It really helps to know what my readers think! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly, Friedwardt Winterburg, Three Forks Montana, or the Missouri River. I do however own a GPS. Well, ok, it's my mom's. But I can say that Dougland Smiddy is all mine. Ha! Finally, something I DO own! *Insert happy dance.***

**Freddie's POV**

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. My head was spinning just thinking about the words that had come from the earpiece of the cordless house phone. It had to be a mistake. I must have misheard her somehow. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"What?" I said when my voice finally came back to me. "What did you just say?"

My grandma's voice answered back, this time less steady than it had been a moment ago. "I said your father didn't die in a car crash like you thought he did."

So I had heard her right. "Wait, what do you mean he didn't die in a car crash? He survived it? Is he still alive? What happened to him?"

"I didn't mean he got in a car crash and survived, what I meant was…there never _was _a car crash, Freddie."

"You…you mean…you mean it was all…a lie?" This just couldn't be true.

"I'm sorry, Freddie. We didn't want to tell you the truth until we thought you were old enough to hear it, and when that time came, well, we just kept putting it off."

My head was now spinning so much I felt like I was going to be sick. My mom had lied to me. Everyone had lied to me. I could only imagine what must've happened to him if they had to make up a car crash to make it sound better. "So…what _did_ happen?" I heard a voice say. It took me a minute to realize that the voice was my own, even though I hadn't noticed I was speaking.

"Well, it's kind of a long story. I guess I should start when your father first met Frank Puckett, your friend Sam's father."

"So our dads _did_ know each other. How'd they meet? When? Wher-"

"If you'll just shut up and stop interrupting me I'll tell you." For a sweet little old lady, my grandma could say some pretty shocking things. She didn't even apologize for telling me to shut up. I smiled, relaxing my mind briefly. She wasn't like most grandmothers. I figured I had better do as she said if I wanted to hear the story.

"Anyway, Nathan first met Frank their freshman year of college. Marissa, who had been his high school sweetheart, was going to school at Princeton, back home in New Jersey. And while he knew he would miss her dearly, Nathan had always wanted to travel away from home. He felt like he had to get away from New Jersey for a little while and go somewhere completely new, so he ended up going to University of Washington in Seattle. It didn't take him long to realize how lonely he was. After all, Marissa was the only friend Nathan had ever really had. Marissa told your father that an old friend of hers, Liz, was going to school at U. Washington too. Nathan really didn't want to hang out with Liz, but he decided to try and be her friend to please your mother. He actually got along with Liz pretty well. She was a nice enough girl, but it was her boyfriend, Frank, that he had the most in common with. They both had big dreams of traveling around the world and exploring, and Frank had a sense of humor quite like a certain hilarious grandmother of yours, so the two quickly became best friends.

"After college, your father moved back to New Jersey to marry your mother. He started working for a GPS company before GPS was largely known to the public. He was fascinated with it. In fact, you were named Fredward after Friedwardt Winterburg, who was one of the first people to come up with the idea of GPS." **(A/N: He's real! Look it up!) **I heard my grandmother chuckling to herself, apparently feeling a little better than she had at the beginning of the phone call. "I never said my son was normal," she said.

"Any who," she got back to the story, "Your father loved working for the GPS company. It paid him well, which was good since before long he had a son to take care of, and Marissa was still in nursing school. He was doing pretty well, especially considering he was only 23 at the time. Meanwhile, Frank and Liz were happily married and living in New Jersey too, just a few blocks from where your parents lived. You often had play dates with their twin daughters when you were a baby."

"Wait," I said, forgetting that I wasn't supposed to interrupt, "So Melanie is real?"

Grandma chuckled again. "Yes Freddie, Melanie is real. What, did you think Sam just acted like Melanie sometimes to fool you into thinking she had a twin?"

"Um, never mind. Continue."

"Let's see, where was I? Oh yes, Frank hadn't done quite as well in the job department as your father. He got a job working as a clerk in a Lowe's hardware store. The job didn't get him a whole lot of money, but it could've been worse. And Liz worked part-time as a waitress in a little diner, so that helped some. They may not have been anywhere close to wealthy, but they had enough to get by.

"Well one day, when you were about 6 months old, your father got laid off from his job. One of his coworkers had committed some sort of fraud and framed him for it. There was a trial and your father was found innocent, but the guilty coworker – His name was Dougland Smiddy. Stupid name by the way, almost as bad as Fredward. – got really mad, and when he escaped from jail he started threatening Nathan over the phone. He was put back in jail, but your parents were still really worried, and all of you were put in the Witness Protection Program just in case he got out again. Their names were changed to Benson and they were moved to–"

"So, my last name wasn't always Benson?" It was a lot to take in all at once.

"Isn't that what I just said? Gosh Fredward, for such a smart boy you can really be dumb sometimes. And I thought I told you not to interrupt me again!" She laughed out loud. "Sorry," she said. "Probably not the best time to make jokes. Force of habit. Anyway, yes, your name when you were born was Fredward Bennett. But like I was saying, they changed your names and you all moved to Seattle. Luckily, Nathan had been friends with the owner of the Bushwell Plaza, where he had lived his last year at U. Washington, so they got a good deal on an apartment and didn't even have to go apartment hunting. They lived there for a while with no problems, but then one day Nathan got a phone call saying that Smiddy had escaped prison again and was looking for him. He hadn't found him in New Jersey and the police thought he might be headed west. Your father was so worried he would find him in Seattle, and possibly hurt you and your mom. The police weren't doing such a good job of following his trail, but your father had always had a knack for that sort of thing. He was so observant, and he could beat the pants off anyone when it came to things involving logic. Against everyone's advise, he decided to go find the son of a biii-I mean, bad person and take matters into his own hands. Unfortunately, your father had never been a very strong man. In fact, he was kind of a wimp, but he knew someone who wasn't: Frank Puckett. Frank knew all about the thing with Dougland Smiddy. Your father convinced Frank to come with him, just in case things got rough. Which they did.

"It didn't take long before they bumped into Smiddy in Montana, in a town on the Missouri River called Three Forks. I guess Frank must have held him still for a while, because it was Nathan who called the local police. He told them Smiddy had a gun and was threatening them with it. When the cops got there, they found Smiddy lying dead in the middle of the road with a bullet wound in his head. Nathan and Frank were…n-nowhere to be found." Grandma's voice was shaky now, and I could tell she could no longer stop herself from crying. I let her cry for a while, so she could get it out of her system.

"Did they look for them?" I asked when she had calmed down a little.

"Yes," she sniffled. "It was difficult though, because it had all happened in the middle of the night and there were no witnesses. No one had even seen your father or Frank, much less where they had gone. The police searched for over a year before they finally gave up hope. It was so unlikely that they were still alive.

"Liz and Marissa gave up hope too, deciding that their husbands must be dead. Liz blamed Nathan, saying that he had forced Frank to come with him, and that if it weren't for him, Frank would still be alive. She coped with her anger and sadness by becoming a bitter drunk. That's how Sam found out. Liz had meant to wait until Sam and Melanie were old enough to tell them, but she got extra drunk one night when the girls were just 3 years old and told them everything, including that she thought it was all Nathan's fault, and his family's because if it weren't for wanting to protect you and your mother, he wouldn't have ever left Seattle. I think the girls must have believed her, and Sam blamed you. None of us really had much contact with the Pucketts after the incident, so it was a big surprise when they moved from New Jersey to Washington and you met Sam in middle school.

"Your mother on the other hand, blamed herself for letting Nathan go. But instead of becoming an alcoholic like Liz, she kind of went insane. For a few years afterwards she basically secluded herself and you from the rest of the world. It was over a year after it happened that I finally talked to her again, and then she only talked for a minute before saying she just couldn't talk to me yet; that it reminded her too much of Nathan. It was so sad. She used to be such a sweet, pleasant woman. We were actually good friends before, and I always believed your father was lucky to have her. But when he disappeared, she became so paranoid that something might happen to you, and she'd be completely alone. That's why she's so overprotective Freddie, you're all she really has left. She doesn't want to lose you too."

I tried to say something, but my mouth was too dry to speak and even if it wasn't, I had no clue what to say. It was a lot to take in. I kept thinking that any minute now I'd wake up and realize it was all a bad dream, or a camera crew would suddenly jump out from nowhere and Grandma would yell 'Gotcha!' Neither of those things happened. I just sat there, my mouth hanging open slightly, trying to say something; trying to say anything. Grandma must've realized I couldn't talk anymore and decided it would be best to end the conversation soon.

"Freddie," she said, "I know probably don't feel like talking right now, so I just want to say one last thing before I go. No matter what happens, no matter what Sam or anyone else says, this was not your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was just one of those unfortunate things that happens even though nobody wants it to. And I just want you to know that your dad loved you very, very much. So does your mom. So do I." I could feel tears running down my cheeks. I watched them as they dropped from my face and landed on my blue jean covered thighs.

"Well," said Grandma, "I better get going now. You need time to just sit and think for a while. You don't have to say anything, I'll just hang up. Goodb—"

"Grandma, wait." Suddenly the words just exploded from my mouth. "There's one last thing I want to know."

"Sure honey, what is it?"

"I-I was just wondering…I mean, I know you said Mom and Mrs. Puckett gave up hope and decided that Dad and Mr. Puckett were, well…you know. But you never said what you thought. Did you ever give up hope that Dad might still be alive?"

Grandma made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a short, melancholy laugh. "No," she said finally. "No matter how much I reasoned that it was just plain illogical that they would have survived all these years, no matter how many times I told myself they were gone and never coming back, I never could seem to give up hope. Call it mother's intuition, but I just always had the feeling that despite the odds, Nathan was still out there somewhere."

I breathed a sigh of almost relief. Somehow hearing her say that she still hadn't given up hope calmed me down a little. "Okay," I said. "That's all I wanted to know."

"Alright," she said. "I'll just go now. Goodbye honey. I love you."

"Bye. Love you too. Oh, and Grandma?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," I said, smiling weakly. And though I couldn't see her, I knew that Grandma was smiling too.

**Whew! That was a tough chapter to write! I must have changed it a million times before I decided I had it right, so I really hope you liked it!**

**Oh, and if your name happens to be Dougland Smiddy, I apologize for making fun of it. It is a funny name though. Oh darn it, sorry Dougland!**

**Review my story? Pretty please with **[insert reader's favorite food]** on top?**


	5. Chapter 5

**What goes on peoples? Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I had to go to work :P, and then when I got home my mom was all upset about something I won't get into because you probably don't care. Anyways, I try and update every day, but please forgive me if I can't. Now to the story. Chapter 5 of iFind Out The Truth About My Dad will continue after these brief messages!**

**Do you sometimes find yourself reading a story on fanfiction dot net and wondering if the author owns iCarly? Does this happen even AFTER reading the first 4 chapters of the story, all of which contain disclaimers clearly stating that they do NOT own iCarly? Then you may have brain damage! But that's no problem when you have a fancy new product that can be found right here at THIS website! What is this fabulous new invention you ask? How can you get access to it? Well all you have to do is keep reading! Yes, that's all you have to do, and we will provide you with Repetitive-and-Unnecessary-Disclaimers (AKA: RUDs) EVERY CHAPTER! That's right, EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER! (Disclaimer: We are not responsible for extreme annoyance, irritability, déjà vu, hallucinations, itching, chaffing, thoughts of psychotic pidgins attacking marshmallows, or symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome that may occur while using RUDs. If you have any comments/concerns about our product, don't call us. Seriously, just get over it.)**

**Disclaimer: For those with brain damage: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned iCarly.**

**Freddie's POV**

I picked up the fork full of macaroni and raised it to my mouth, but then dropped it back to the plate again, without even tasting the cheesy noodles. I was exhausted. Really exhausted. I hadn't slept at all the night before. I couldn't stop thinking about what Grandma had told me about Dad. Not because it really upset me so much that no one had told me before; I was pretty much over that. I just couldn't get my mind to stop racing. I thought about my dad all day, and when I closed my eyes I was still thinking about him; about what could've happened to him; about how Dougland Smiddy ended up dead with a bullet in his head when neither mine nor Sam's dad was there anymore; if maybe, just maybe, they had survived. But where would they have gone that even the police couldn't find them after searching for over a year? And even if they had survived the fight and had gotten away, they had to be dead by now. If they weren't they would be back home now, right?

Anything could've happened to them. They could've fallen in the river and drowned. They could've been killed by some accomplice of Smiddy's that no one knew about. The chances that they were still alive were slim, to say the least. But there was one thing that made me keep thinking. Every time I convinced myself that Dad was dead and to stop thinking about it, that one sentence would come drifting back into my mind.

'_I just always had the feeling that despite the odds, Nathan was still out there somewhere,'_ Grandma's voice kept repeating over and over in my head. I didn't know why, but for some reason last night I had felt like Grandma might know the answer. Had she said she believed he was dead, I probably would've thought so too. Silly, I know. Grandma didn't know any more than mom or Mrs. Puckett, but for something in my gut just told me that she was right.

I picked up my fork again, but I still couldn't eat. I was just too tired and had too much on my mind to be thinking about my stomach. I had to do _something_though, and though I knew what that something was, I still wasn't sure if I should do it. It was risky, but finally I picked up my cell phone and quickly punched in the phone number.

"What do you want Fredward?" Sam said when she answered the phone. I knew this wouldn't be easy, but it had to be done. I took a deep breath and started talking.

Sam's POV

"I know about our dads," said the nervous-sounding boy on the other end. "My grandma told me everything."

I didn't say anything at first, and when I spoke I knew my voice sounded small and hesitant. "So…you know…" My voice trailed off. I didn't know what to say.

"About our dads being friends; about Dougland Smiddy; everything. Listen, I don't know how to say this," he started, "But…I was just wondering if…you see…my grandma said she thinks that our dads might still be alive, and I agree with her. I was wondering if…maybe you thought so too?"

"Wh…what? Do I think they're still alive? What kind of question is that Benson?" I knew I sounded mean, but for some reason his question made me angry. "How could you even ask that? You know good and well that there is no way they are still alive. All you've done by asking that is bring up bad memories for me. Do you want to make me upset? I don't think you do, unless you like having your teeth punched out of your face."

"Sam, look," he said. "I don't want to upset you. I just want to know, do you think there is a chance they're still alive?"

"I mean, how could they have survived all that? Smiddy was a dangerous dude. They were probably killed just like he was. And if they were still alive, why aren't they here, huh?"

"You still haven't answered my question," he said. Damn. I was hoping he wouldn't notice that. The truth was I didn't really know the answer myself. "I don't know," I said. I…I don't think they could be alive, but then again, I kind of do. Or at least, I always hoped they might be."

"Well then let's do something about it!" he said suddenly.

I had to admit, it was kind of cute when Freddie got excited. What? I didn't just think that. Pretend that never happened. I realized he was still waiting on an answer. "What? Are you completely insane?" I said, trying to cover up the thoughts that had just been going through my head.

"Maybe, but we can't just do nothing when we both think there is hope. Come on Sam, wouldn't you at least like to find out for sure whether they are alive or not? Or would you rather just sit around your whole life and wonder?"

He made sense. In fact, I had thought about this many times, but I always just told myself that I was being stupid. Dad was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. But still…"Even if they are alive, what makes you think we can find them? The police searched for more than a year and didn't find them or even find any evidence of where they could've gone."

"I have a plan. Come to my house and I'll explain everything."

"Won't your freakish mother get all suspicious?"

"She won't be home from work until 5:00. If you come over now we'll have plenty of time. Please Sam?"

I hesitated. "I'm still mad at you for yesterday, you know." It was a lie. I barely remembered what yesterday's fight was about anymore, but that didn't mean he wasn't still going to suffer for it.

"And I'm sorry about that. Now, are you coming over or aren't you?"

"I'd only be doing this 'cause I'm curious to see how stupid your plan will be, you know."

"Is that a yes?"

"And this doesn't mean I'll go along with your plan, especially if it involves me having to spend more time than necessary with yournub-ish self."

"Is that a yes?"

"Ugh, fine. I'll be there. Give me 15 minutes. Oh, and Freddie?"

"Yeah?" he sounded surprised I had used his real name. I was going to apologize for what I said during the fight, but that AND calling him Freddie was just too much niceness. I had to think up something else to say quick.

"Try not to be such a dork, 'kay?"

I thought it would make him mad, but to my surprise, he laughed. "No promises," he said, and hung up the phone. I hung up my phone too, grabbed my keys, slipped on some flip flops, and yelled to my mother who was passed out on the couch that I was going out for a while.

"'Kay," said Mom, regaining consciousness for a brief moment. "Be back whenever." And with that her head fell back down onto the couch's armrest. In just a few seconds I heard her soft snoring.

I headed out of our tiny apartment to my car. It was old and used, but it worked alright, and it got me where I needed to go. It was definitely better than nothing. Before I knew it I was at Bushwell Plaza.

I got to room 8D after a short fight with Lewbert. Let's just say Lewbert now knows better than to yell at me to wipe the dirt off my shoes before coming in. I opened the door to the apartment to find Freddie on the phone.

"Yes Mom, I'm fine. No, there is no one else here. I promise, I won't open the door for strangers. Mom. MOM! I'm 18 years old you can't just – Mom, I'm an adult. Yes, I know I'm still a little boy to you, but – Mom. Mom, I have to go. No I don't have company here! Okay so what if I do? Mom, I'm an adult now. I'll be going off to college soon. I think I know when someone is a stranger and when they're not. No she's not a stranger! Yes Mom, a girl. It's just Sam! We're just going to talk and hang out for a while. Yes, I'll be a perfect gentleman. I'm not going to throw a party while you're gone. Okay…okay! I have to go now. Yes. Uh huh. I know. Bye. I said bye Mom!" He hung up the phone as quick as he could before Crazy had the chance to start a lecture on dental hygiene.

"Wow. Cool mom Benson." He looked like he was going to get mad at me, but then he just sighed.

"I know," he said. "She does this every time she's at work. She always has to call whenever she can to check up on me. I don't know what she's going to do when I'm in college."

"Probably go insane," I said. "Oh wait. I guess it's a little late for that."

This time he did get mad. "Listen Puckett, maybe my mom is way too over-protective, but at least she handled what happened to her husband without becoming a bitter alcoholic."

Now it was my turn to get mad. "Hey, my mom has reason to be bitter. It was _your_dad's fault he disappeared anyway."

"It was not his fault! It was that asshole Dougland Smiddy's fault."

"Wow Fredachinni," I said, "I didn't know you could cuss like that. Your mother would not be pleased to hear her little Fredward using such fowl language."

"Aw shut up Sam. This arguing isn't going to do us any good. We have to get to work."

"Get to work on what? You never said exactly what this plan of yours was."

"You'll see. I have everything planned out on my laptop." He went over to the kitchen table to get his computer.

"Now," he said. "We know they were last seen in Three Forks, Montana…"

**Hey! You see that review button? No, not that one, that one! Yeah, why don't you click it? As Carly would say, please? For me?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey. I don't really have anything cute or funny to say today, so I'm just going to get on with the story. Well, after a brief disclaimer of course. **

**Disclaimer: If I owned iCarly the show would no longer exist, because I would've run out of ideas after 4 or 5 episodes. Thank goodness I don't own iCarly!**

**Freddie's POV**

"Okay," said Sam after I had told her my plan. "I just have one last question."

"Shoot."

"When are we going to do this? And how are you going to get permission from your crazy mom?"

"That's two questions," I corrected, ignoring the scowl that formed on her lips when I said this, and the fact that she had just called my mom crazy again, "And I have an idea for that too. Graduation is only a few weeks away, so we can leave right after that. That gives us a little over 2 months before my classes start at Yale."

Yeah, I had gotten into Yale, and even though knew I would miss Carly and Sam who were both going to U. Washington, I was really excited. Oh yeah, Sam got into an actual 4-year college. She had really started trying in school her last two years. She had to if she wanted to go to school with Carly. To everyone's surprise, Sam was pretty good at school when she actually tried, and she even sometimes got better grades than Carly. Turns out, Sam is pretty smart. Although I kind of already suspected that.

"Anyway," I said, after realizing I forgot to answer her second question. "I'm still not exactly sure what to do about my mom. I obviously can't tell her what I'm really doing, she'd never allow it. I was hoping you would help me come up with an excuse."

"And why should I help you?" said Sam, raising both her eyebrow and her voice.

"Do you really want to go on this trip by yourself?"

She sigh, defeated. "No. I guess not. Now let's see…a good excuse…hmmm. You could tell her you're starting your classes at Yale in the summer instead of waiting until fall."

"No can do. She said she wants me to spend one last summer with her, and she wouldn't let me start until autumn came."

"Autumn?" she smirked. "Who says autumn?"

"Lots of people!" I said defensively.

"Well it's dumb. And so are you." **(A/N: Actually, I love the word autumn. I think it sounds much prettier than fall.)**

"It's not dumb! It's just a different word for…oh why am I even bothering to argue with you about this? We have more important things to discuss."

"Fine," she groaned. "Hmmm…you could tell her you're running away to fulfill your dream of becoming a circus clown."

"Sam…" I glared at her.

"Kidding! Kidding! I'll be good now. Um…you could pretend one of your relatives is sick and that they want you to take care of them."

"That is…not a bad idea, actually," I said, liking the idea better and better the more I thought about it. "Yeah, I could tell her it's my grandma. Mom wouldn't be able to come because grandma lives in New Jersey and Mom can't be away from work for very long. It's not like she ever calls grandma anyway. I'll just tell her to always call me on my cell phone."

"And I'm make up something to tell my mom," she said. "Not like it'll be that hard. She's always too drunk to notice when I'm there and when I'm not anyway." She meant it too sound funny, but I could see the hurt in her eyes. I had the sudden urge to hug her, but then I realized she would probably rip my face off and decided I had better just leave her alone.

"Alright," I said, "So it's all settled. The day after graduation we'll take my truck and head to Three Forks."

"M'kay." She started to leave.

"Sam," As soon as I said it I wished I had kept my mouth shut. She turned around, waiting to see what I wanted. I tried to make up something else to say, but before I knew it the words were already out of my mouth. "I'm glad that you're coming on this trip with me." Oh boy. I didn't want to know what she was about to do to me. I prepared to run away, but then she did something I didn't expect at all.

"Me too," she said, smiling a little. In a second the smile was gone. She left the apartment quickly, leaving me with only my laptop and a very confused but happy expression on my face.

**Hmmm…that chapter was pretty short. But we found some stuff out. They are indeed going to Three Forks. What will they do when they get there? Will they be able to stand having only each other as company? That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Unless you suddenly go blind between now and my next update. Just to be safe, you may want to not look directly into the sun or put your eyes close to sharp objects for the next week or so, depending on how long my story ends up being. I don't know. Might only take another few days, might take 2 weeks. We shall find out! Or shall we? Mwahahahahaha…*cough* *cough*.**

**Review if you want to live. What? Did I just say that? I mean, review pretty please? Yeah, that's what I meant. Heh, heh…**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! So guess what?** **Chicken butt! Ahaha, no just kidding. I know, I'm a lame little dork. But I'm **_**your**_** lame little dork. You gotta love me, right? Right? Hey, don't leave! Come back!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly, but this story is brought to you by the letter i. Well, actually it's brought to you by a Toshiba Netbook, a fan fiction website and a strange teenage girl with no life. But you get the idea.**

**Carly's POV**

"No! I won't do it and you can't make me!"

"But it would just be a little bit. Please? It's a special day. Don't you want to look nice?"

"I think I'll be able to survive graduation without you smearing that goop on my face," retorted a very angry Sam.

"It's just a little lip gloss and eye liner. It won't kill you to wear it," I tried to reason.

"But you might just get killed if that stuff gets anywhere near my face," she said, folding her arms across her chest indignantly.

I sighed and set the makeup down, causing Sam to give me a satisfied smirk. I knew it was useless to try and reason with her. I was just proud that I had gotten her to wear a dress under her graduation gown. She still insisted on wearing her favorite Converse hightops though. Typical Sam.

Just then the door opened, and Spencer appeared, holding a hand over his eyes. "Everybody un-nakedified in here?" he said.

"Is that even a word?" I asked my brother.

"Well, if it isn't it should be. Now answer the question so I can remove my hand from my face."

"I can't answer the question. Un-nakedified is not a word. Therefore in order to answer the question I would have to know what your definition of the word is," I teased.

"I think the definition is pretty obvious. Now hurry and answer it. I was chopping onions a little while ago and having my hand over my eyes is really making them hurt."

"Yes, we are all un-nakedified here." Spencer carefully took his hand off of his face, revealing two very bloodshot eyes.

"Duuude. Your eyes look like my mom's when she mistook vinegar for her contact solution," said Sam. "Why were you chopping onions anyways?"

"It's for a sculpture I'm building of a giant lumberjack made entirely from chopped onions. I shall call it 'The Legend of Paul Onion.' Heh, you get it? Paul Onion? 'Cause…"

"We get it!" I said quickly. "We only have 15 minutes to get to the school, and I will not be late for my own graduation! Now let's move!"

"Yes mam." Spencer looked a little disappointed that he didn't get to explain his joke, but he grabbed his keys and followed us out of the apartment without complaint.

**Sam's POV**

I had to admit; even I was kind of surprised I had made it this far, although I knew everyone else was probably way more surprised than I was. If two years ago you had told everyone that I would be here today, no one would've believed you. But my Junior year of high school, when I started actually trying, I found out school actually wasn't too bad. Kind of easy even. But still, I guess I always figured that something would go wrong that would keep me from graduating, and I was proud that nothing had.

So there I was, standing in a black cap and gown as I waited for my name to be called. I wondered briefly whose turn it was. I had meant to keep track, but had gotten bored halfway through the A's (they went in alphabetical order by last name.)

"Fredward Karl Benson, valedictorian," said a voice I recognized as Principal Franklin's. Freddie went up and grabbed his diploma, grinning from ear to ear. I had to smile too. As much as I loved seeing Freddie annoyed, I kind of liked to see him happy too. Not that I would ever admit that to anybody.

"Charles Cornelius Gibson," said Principal Franklin after several more names were called. Gibby bounced all the way to where Principal Franklin was waiting with his diploma, yelled 'Gibby is the MAN!,' and proceeded to take off his graduation gown, revealing his shirtless body underneath. There were some shocked looks from the audience, but the graduating seniors and the Gibson family weren't surprised at all. And I swear I heard Carly giggling a few feet behind me.

Principal Franklin kept calling out name after name. "Wendy Michelle Hennings." As usual, Wendy had a dazzling smile on her face, and all the guys stared at her in awe. "Wesley Harold Jenkins." The freak started beat-boxing as soon as his diploma was handed to him. "Ruben Christopher Kenny." He shouted something about a strawberry meatball destroying a tiger's fancy igloo and Gibby gave him a high-five. "Natasha Elizabeth Moore." Tasha gave Gibby a hateful look as she received her diploma. She still hadn't forgiven him for breaking up with her after she had already transferred to Ridgeway to be with him. 'Course, that's probably why he broke up with her. That chick was clingier than Velcro.

Finally I heard it. "Samantha Joy Puckett." I ran up to the stage, grabbed my diploma, and then ran back down again, but not before spying Ms. Briggs and sticking up my middle finger in her direction.

"Sam Puckett!" cried the evil Ms. Briggs.

"What, Gibby gets to be all shirtless but I can't even show you the one finger I've wanted to show you since 6th grade? Besides, what are you going to do about it now? Give me detention? I've already graduated. You can't punish me anymore." I had to smirk at the look on her face when she realized I was right.

It wasn't long before they called Carly's name. "Carlotta Annette Shay."

"Woo! Go Carls!" I yelled as Ms. Briggs gave me another evil stare. I shrugged. What did I care if she was mad at me? I was free!

After what seemed an eternity, the ceremony was finally over. Freducation had given some speech on growing up, moving forward, yada yada yada, while I pretended not to listen. Then there had been a slideshow that had pictures of everyone in the class as they grew up, and at the end we all threw our caps into the air and yelled in excitement. My cap "accidentally" hit Gibby on the face as it fell, and Carly had to pull him aside to be nurse for his 'boo boo.' She didn't look like she minded too much though.

**Freddie's POV**

Despite the nervous wreck I had been during my valedictory speech, when it was all over I was actually pretty calm. After saying goodbye to some classmates and being ridiculed by Sam for 'having a middle name almost as lame as my first,' I headed over to where the guests were to find my mom. As soon as I found her she trapped me in a big bear hug.

"Oh my little Freddie is all grown up and graduated from high school! I'm so proud of my baby!"

"Mom. MOM," I said, trying to pry my mother's arms off of me. She had been hugging me like that for almost 3 minutes. "Mom, I need air."

"Sorry," she said, releasing her hold on me. She stood back and looked at me, probably realizing for the first time how tall I was. I was now a good 5 inches above her, even with her in heels. Her eyes started to water and she pulled me into another hug, just as suffocating as the last. I allowed it this time. I figured she was going to need it. After all, she still didn't know I was leaving tomorrow.

"Hello," called a voice behind me. I didn't have to turn around to see who it was. My first thought was that I was really glad to see her. My second thought: Uh oh.

"Hey Grandma," I said, turning towards her. "I thought you said you couldn't make it?"

**Hmmm…I am not too pleased with this chapter. It kind of got off subject from what the story is really about, but I thought I should include the graduation, and it seemed like a good place to put his grandma showing up unexpectedly. (Btw, do you get why he is kind of unhappy to see her? If you've been reading carefully you should be able to figure that out pretty easily, but I'm going to make that clearer in the next chapter anyway.) Next chapter will hopefully turn out a little better, and I think it will be more on subject.**

**Anyway, please review the chapter, or I will be forced to beg. What? You want me to beg? Oh all right. PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PRETTY PRETTY PLEEEEEAAAAAASSSEEE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**. snoitalutargnoC .siht gnidaer efil ruoy fo sdnoces 03 detsaw tsuj evah uoY**

**Oh, and this is Freddie's POV again. Yeah, I know it was just in his POV at the end of the last chapter. Sorry I keep switching POVs kind of randomly. If it is annoying you please let me know and I will try to do better.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly. I don't even know anyone named Carly. I do however know someone who has done a web show. Does that count for anything?**

**Freddie's POV**

"Hey Grandma. I thought you said you couldn't make it?" This was not good. I needed Grandma to be back in New Jersey tomorrow so I could tell my mom she was sick and that I was leaving to take care of her. If she didn't leave soon, the whole plan was messed up. And now that she was here, we would have to delay it a few more days even after she got back. It would seem too suspicious for her to get sick right after she had just been here perfectly healthy. We couldn't afford to delay this much, after all, it was a big challenge and we only had a little over two months to do it. We needed every day we could get.

"Well I couldn't just miss my own grandson's high school graduation could I?" She came forward and gave me a hug.

"Oh, well, uh, good to see you then. Um, how long were you planning on staying?"

"I thought I'd stay for 3 days or so. I haven't seen you in a long time. But I won't stay longer than 4. I don't want to intrude on your house too long." She leaned close and whispered, smiling, "And I can't take your mom's cooking for any longer than that."

"Okay," said my mom. "Well if you're ready I guess we'll just head back to Bushwell…"

"Freddie!" A voice behind me interrupted my mom. I turned my head to see Carly running towards me. "Are you about to leave?"

"Yeah, we were just about to head back to the apartment…"

"But you haven't given me a hug yet!" she said, and she quickly wrapped her arms tight around my neck. "I don't even know when I'll see you again! Tonight could be the last time I see you and Sam for a long time!"

"Why's that? Are you starting school in the summer Carly?" said my mom.

"Uh, w-well I, um," stuttered Carly. Uh-oh. I guess she'd forgotten that mom didn't know I was supposed to be leaving tomorrow. Carly wasn't starting college in the summer. She was starting in the fall, just like me. And mom would definitely notice if Carly said she was going to school in the summer but then stayed living with Spencer until fall. The brunette was still trying to come up with some sort of excuse. Carly was a lot of things but a good liar wasn't one of them.

"I-I just meant I'm not going to...not going to see him much…over the summer," she said, "because I…I…"

"Because she got a job!" I lied.

"Oh?" said my mom. "Where?"

"Uh…uh…"

"Inside-out burger!" I said, choosing a place I knew my mother would never step foot into. She wouldn't even get near food that greasy.

"Oh." Mom had a disgusted look on her face. "Well I suppose a job in a grease-covered filth trap is better than no job at all."

"Um, thanks," said Carly. She pulled me aside. "Did she just call my workplace a grease-covered filth trap?" she whispered.

"You do know that you don't actually work there, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Forgot. I guess I just have a lot on my mind right now, what with college starting in the fall and not having you and Sam to hang out with me all summer." It looked like there something else she on her mind, but she didn't say what it was. "Oh, and sorry I almost let it slip about your trip to Three Forks tomorrow."

"S'okay. Besides, it doesn't look like that's going to happen tomorrow anyway. My grandma showed up kind of unexpectedly and I was going to tell my mom that she was sick and I needed to go to New Jersey to take care of her."

"Ooh. Sam's not going to be happy about this."

"Yeah, I know. And Grandma is staying for 3 or 4 days, and then I'll have to give it at least another two days after she leaves for it to be believable that she is sick."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Haven't figured that out yet. Right now, I think I just need to get home and get out of these dress shoes. My feet are killing me."

"Alright. Hey, do you want to come over later and hang out with me, Sam and Spencer? Like a little graduation party?"

"Sure," I said. "See you later."

_**Back at Bushwell Plaza, half an hour later…**_

Back at the apartment, I was at the kitchen table on my laptop, watching some old iCarly videos. We had had our farewell show last Friday, and I had to admit, I was really going to miss it. We were going to keep doing the web show until college started, but when Sam and I decided to go on this trip a few weeks ago, we all decided we had better end it a little sooner.

My grandma and my mom sat on the couch in the living room that connected to the kitchen, catching up on things that had happened since the last time they saw each other. They both seemed a little stiff and uncomfortable with the other's presence. The whole time they talked Mom kept fidgeting with the bottle of Germ-X on the coffee table.

"Alright," said my mom after they'd been talking for about 20 minutes. "It's getting late. I'm going to go to bed."

"Alright, dear," said my grandmother. "Goodnight." I noticed the sympathetic look on her face as she watched my mom head to her room. Now it was just me and Grandma. Grandma stayed seated on the couch; a pensive look on her face. I debated telling her about what Sam and I were planning on doing. Maybe she could help us out. But then, I didn't know whether or not she would approve of us going. After all, her son had disappeared there. She obviously didn't have good memories associated with the place.

I decided I would go across the hall and see if Carly was back yet, and told my grandma where I was going.

"Wait a minute Freddie," she said. "I want to talk to you about something for a minute."

"Okay," I said, taking a seat next to her on the couch. "What about?"

"I was just thinking; maybe I'll head home tomorrow. I haven't been feeling too well lately, and I don't want to get your mother sick. I was wondering if maybe you would take me there and stay with me for a while." I thought she was serious until she winked at me.

"You mean, you know?" She nodded her head. "How?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I'm a very observant old woman. I could tell you were lying about your friend Carly getting a job, and I wasn't surprised that you might do something like this after I told you about your father. Of course, it also helped that I overheard your conversation with that Carly girl when you thought I couldn't hear you."

"You were eavesdropping?"

"Eavesdropping makes it sound so bad," she said. "I like to think of it as accidental listening."

"Did mom hear too?" I asked, a little worried.

"No, she was completely oblivious the whole time. I was the only one to hear you."

"So…you're okay with this?"

She laughed. "Okay with it? I'm glad you're doing it. I would have done it myself years ago if I wasn't so old and weak. I always hoped that when you found out the truth you would go looking for him. Oh, and tomorrow you can just drop me off at the airport. I already booked a flight a while back. Just in case."

I smiled. "So you won't tell Mom?"

"On one condition she said. Promise me you'll be careful. If I had been more insistent that your father not go looking for Dougland Smiddy all those years ago, he might still be here right now. And even though Smiddy himself is dead, you never know who might have been working with him and could still be out there. If anything happened to you too, I…I'd never forgive myself." I saw tear roll down her small wrinkled cheek and she wiped it away quickly. "Just take care of yourself okay? Promise me."

"I promise," I said, and she smiled a little. Just then there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Carly standing in the hallway outside my apartment.

"Hey," she said. "Come over to my apartment. Sam is already over there. Oh, and Gibby came too." I saw her cheeks turn a little red when she said Gibby's name.

"Okay," I said and started to leave, but then turned back to see my grandma sitting alone on the couch, staring off into space. I realized I would get to see Sam all summer, and would probably see Carly, Spencer, and Gibby again before I left for college, but I didn't know when I would get to see my grandma again.

"Actually," I said, "I'm really tired. I think I'm just going to stay here and go to bed."

"You sure?" she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "Spencer is making spaghetti tacos. Don't you want to stay for a while and have one?"

"Nah," I said. "You have fun though."

"Okay," she said reluctantly. "Oh, did you figure out what to do about that, um, situation we talked about earlier?"

"Yeah. It's all cool. We're leaving tomorrow morning as planned. I'll probably leave to pick Sam up from her house pretty early, so I don't think I'll get to see you before I leave."

"Oh. Well then, I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So…bye." She pulled me into a hug, much deeper than the one we had shared earlier. A few years ago I probably would've gone crazy had I gotten a hug like that from Carly, but I had stopped liking her like that a long time ago. Now it was just two friends sharing a very nice, but unromantic, goodbye hug. And I was happy with that. I liked having Carly be my best friend instead of my crush that didn't like me back, and I knew she liked it that way too. Since I had told her a few years ago I didn't like-like her anymore, we had actually gotten even closer. She was like my sister. I would miss her a lot when I went to college.

Carly went back to her apartment and I closed the door to mine. I had told Carly I was tired and going to go to bed. It was true that I was very tired, but I decided to stay with my grandma and talk for a few more minutes before I went to sleep. She seemed glad for the company, and we talked about everything going on in our lives until we ran out of things to say and finally went to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

**Click the review button! Failure to do so will cause your computer to spontaneously burst into flames. Click it now! **


	9. Chapter 9

**So who's excited for iGot a Hot Room? Haha, I mostly just care about seeing Sam and Freddie and looking for any new Seddie hints. Seddie will happen someday! Go Seddie! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly. But one day I shall! First iCarly, then the world!**

**Mrs. Benson's POV**

"But Mom, she's sick. We can't just send her to New Jersey by herself and leave her alone. And you don't want her to stay here and get you sick."

"Well I don't want you getting sick either! What if you catch her disease and you're both sick. She probably hasn't mapped out the quickest route to the hospital either, and you know you can never depend on those ambulances to…"

"Mom. It'll be okay. I can take care of myself. But Grandma is 70 years old, she lives alone, and she asked me to take care of her. I can't just say no. And aren't you the one who always says that when the…"

"Don't you use my own clever rhyming advice against me young man!"

"Mom," said Freddie. "When the elderly are in need…"

I sighed. "Good people help them and they do a good deed. I know, I know." Darn. He had me. "Alright. You can go to New Jersey with her and keep her company for awhile." My son smiled and pulled me into a hug.

"Thanks Mom. And don't worry. I'll be okay."

"I know," I sighed. "I guess I just have to face the fact that you're a grown man now. You're going to be at college soon, and I won't get to be with you then either. I know you'll be okay in New Jersey, and you'll do a good job taking care of your grandmother. But I expect phone calls at least three times a day. And if you start to feel sick then I want you to go to the hospital immediately."

"Mom…"

"Okay, okay. How about one phone call a day and make a doctor's appointment if you get sick."

He smiled. "Deal. And remember, only call me on my cell phone. Don't call Grandma's house. I mean, you don't want to take the chance you might wake her up or something. She'll need her rest."

"Oh, good point. Okay, but I expect you to remember to call me every day anyway. And Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

"Just promise me you'll be careful, okay?"

**Freddie's POV**

"Just promise me you'll be careful, okay?" That was exactly what Grandma had told me last night. True, Mom was just telling me to be careful of germs and slow ambulances, while Grandma knew what I was really up to and actually had reason to be worried, but I was touched all the same. It was nice to know I was cared about so much by my family, however small and broken it might be.

"I will." I smiled at my mom, and with one last hug and a goodbye, called my grandma out of the guest room where she had been waiting while I talked to my mom, and Grandma and I headed to the parking lot to my truck.

It only took a few minutes to pick up a very sleepy Sam from her house and drop my grandma off at the airport. Before Grandma got out of the truck, she leaned close, wished me good luck, and smiled. I smiled back and waved goodbye as she headed towards the building.

Sam moved from the small seat in the back of the truck's cab to the seat next to me. It was still pretty early in the morning, and I saw her yawn out of the corner of my eye. I was tired too. After all, I had stayed up really late talking to my grandma the night before. But I knew I had to stay alert. It was going to be a long day. According to the GPS, it would take just over nine and a half hours to get there, and that wasn't even counting stops along the way for food and bathroom breaks. I turned up the music and took a sip of the coffee resting in the car's cup holder. It woke me up a little, and I was able to start my drive east with renewed energy and excitement. The journey had begun.

**Okay, okay, I know. Short chapter. Sorry! I'll try and update soon though.**

**Tell me what you think. Oh, and I've noticed you guys seem to respond more when I threaten you, so review or…or…or you'll never eat chocolate again! Mwahahahaha!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So iGot a Hot Room was awesome. I am so jealous of that room! And I was happy to get my fill of Seddie when Sam jumped off the trampoline and on top of Freddie. And then at the end where they started singing all the Teennick theme songs. Gah, I love Nathan and Jenette, and they're surprisingly good singers too. But I'm so mad that Jerry Trainer cut his hair! I liked it before!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly on days that end in "y." **

**Sam's POV**

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the music. I knew I had heard the song somewhere before, but I can never think straight when I first wake up. I slowly opened my eyelids and noticed I wasn't in my bedroom. I was facing a gray thing with a small handle thing on it. I lifted my head a little, and realized my neck was very stiff. Above the gray thing was a window and looking out of it I could see bunch of cars outside. I realized I must be in a car too, and that the gray thing was a glove box and the music was coming from the car's radio. I turned my head I saw Freddie sitting next to me driving, and I remembered we were going to Three Forks, Montana.

My stomach growled. I looked at my phone and saw that it was noon. Lunchtime.

"Yo, Fredwich."

He took his eyes off the road for a moment to look in my direction. "Have a nice nap Sleeping Beauty?" he smirked.

"Ah, shut it. You're just cranky because you didn't get a nap too, and we know little Fredward has to have his nap every day." I actually didn't mean to be that mean to him, but the words just flew out of my lips anyway.

"I do not take naps every day!" he said, but then cooled off quickly. "Look, we're going to have to spend a lot of time together this summer. Can we at least try to get along?"

"Fine," I sighed, although I was more willing to not fight so much with Freddie than I would admit even to myself. "Take me somewhere to eat. I'm hungry."

"When aren't you?" he scoffed.

"Hey, weren't you the one who just said we should try to get along? Now pull into that Hotdog Queen over there. Momma needs some dead cow covered in mustard."

"Yes Princess Puckett." I tried to hide my smile. I couldn't let the nerd know I liked it when he called me that.

"Welcome to Hotdog Queen where you can get what you want. How may I help you?" said the overly perky blonde behind the cash register inside the fast food restaurant. She had a huge fake smile on her bright pink lips. Ugh, it was nub-ettes like this one that gave us blondes a bad reputation.

"Yeah," said Freddie. "I'll have…"

"Woah woah woah," I said. "Did I _say _you could order first?" Freddie looked annoyed but he stepped out of the way and let me go before him. "Get me a foot-long frankfurter, large curly fries, and a large drink."

"That'll be $7.92," she said. "Is that for here or to go?"

"Here," Freddie cut in before I could explain to her that that was a stupid question, and she could just put them into a to-go bag anyway without wasting our time. I glared at Freddie, but didn't say anything as I took my change, my receipt, and my large soda cup and went over to the drink machine. As I was filling my cup with Peppi Cola, I looked over at Freddie and wondered how he wasn't still mad at me for the things I said to him earlier, and the things I had been saying to him ever since I met him.

'_It'd be too weird if you didn't make my life miserable all the time,'_ said Freddie's voice somewhere in my head. I was trying to remember when he had said that and why I remembered it when I noticed I had let my cup overflow with soda. The sticky, brown liquid was now all over my hand and arm, and it was dripping and making a mess all over the floor. "Shit," I murmured under my breath as a started grabbing napkins and trying to clean myself up.

"Oops," said a voice behind me just as I finished getting all the soda off of me. "Have a little accident there?"

I was about to ask the person what it was to them when I turned around and noticed it was an old woman in a wheel chair. "Uh, yeah," I said instead. "I kind of let my soda cup get filled up to much."

"Well I'm not surprised," she chuckled. "I don't know how you would notice anything else around you the way you were staring at that young man over there."

"Wha-what? I wasn't staring at him," I lied. "I was just…oh what do I have to explain to you for?"

"Well you just seemed very…infatuated with him. I was thinking he might be your boyfriend, until of course you responded like that when I said you were staring."

"Me? Go out with that nub? Yeah right. Never in a million years."

"If you say so." She started to turn her wheel chair away, but then came back. "But I'd just like to point out that you wouldn't look me in the eye when you said you weren't staring at him and when you said you wouldn't go out with him. Now, from the experience I've had raising four kids and often taking care of nine grandchildren, when they couldn't look me in the eye, it always turned out they were lying. I could be wrong, but then you do remind me a lot of my youngest daughter. She didn't like her 'nub' either. But they did have the most _beautiful _wedding."

I wanted to say something; to tell her she _was _wrong, but my voice wouldn't work, so I just turned away quickly and went back to the counter to grab my food that had just finished being cooked. I found a table, put a big helping of mustard and ketchup on my hot dog, and immediately started digging into my lunch. I was soon joined by Freddie, who had the same thing as me except his fries and drink were smaller.

"Ok," he said, pulling out a map. Leave it to Fredward to bring a map along, even though he already had a GPS. I had asked him about it before we left and he had told me it was 'just in case.' I told him he should be more worried about bringing a first-aid kit, just in case he got to annoying and I had to break his face. Freddie's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "We're right here in Coeur D'Alene…"

"What kind of a name is that?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask the Idahoans? Besides, not the point. As I was saying, we've gone about half way now. If we don't run into any trouble, we should make it to Three Forks just before dark."

"Great. Are you going to finish those fries?" I said, having already finished my meal.

"Yes I'm going to finish them!"

I kept looking at him with my 'are-you-sure-about-that' expression until he sighed and handed me the last of his fries. After I finished them off and Freddie finished talking about what we would do when we got to Three Forks, we stopped quickly at the Hotdog Queen's bathrooms and headed out of the restaurant.

"Hey," said Freddie when we were back in the truck "I almost forgot to ask you. What were you talking about with that old lady back there?" Crap. I was hoping he hadn't seen that.

"Uh, nothing. She was just some crazy lady who thought I reminded her of her daughter." I didn't mention that this same daughter had married someone who reminded the woman of Freddie.

"Oh? Does her daughter eat enormous amounts of food too?"

"Can it Benson," I said, though I couldn't help smiling.

**Review. Now. Just do it. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, sorry I'm a little later than usual updating. Stupid writer's block. Well, that's what I get for making it up as I go along. One day I shall (yes "shall;" it sounds so much more important than "will") invent a device that cures writers block. Now if only I could work around the whole it-might-cause-brain-damage issue…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly, but if I did I would spend my riches on a bedroom like Carly's (only it would be blue, because blue is an awesome color), anything and everything signed by John Lennon (my idol), and giant swimming pools filled with Dove hot chocolate. **

**Freddie's POV**

"Welcome to Three Forks!" said the sign on the side of the road after a long 10 hours of travel.

"'Bout time Frednub," said Sam, seeing the sign. "I thought I was going to have to drive for you so we could get here before I turned 20!"

"Ha, like I'd let you drive. No thanks, I'd prefer to stay alive and out of jail."

"Hey, I haven't killed anyone yet. And they sent me to juvvy, not jail."

"You almost killed a little kid because you were eating ribs while you were driving!"

"Exactly. _Almost. _He lived though didn't he? Besides, the kid shouldn't have been in the middle of the road."

"He wasn't. You drove onto the sidewalk, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I was too busy thinking about those ribs. Mmm…those were some good ribs. Let's go get some ribs."

"It's only 5:45! Besides, we're going to check into the hotel first, and then we're going to the police station. We'll get ribs after that."

"Ugh, fine," she said. "But if I get cranky from not being fed soon enough it's your fault Fredaloser."

I rolled my eyes as we pulled up to the hotel: a 24 Hour's Inn. We dropped our luggage off, (well actually I did because Sam insisted on me carrying her luggage for her), and headed to the police station to see if we could find anything out there.

"I'm real sorry," said the policeman with the southern accent. He didn't look too sorry. "But that ther' is classy-fied in-for-mation."

"But we just want to find out what happened to them," I insisted. "They were _our_ dads after all."

"We can't give out in-for-mation to just anybody." He wasn't paying us too much attention. He just slouched in his chair while he absentmindedly played with the nametag on his uniform that read 'Officer Robert Smith.' Wow. Bob Smith. His parents must have been _really_ creative.

"Helloooo," said Sam. "Weren't you listening? We aren't just anybody; we are Frank Puckett's and Nathan Benson's kids. Now are you going to give us any information or not?"

"We'd need proof that ya'll was ther' youngins."

"We already showed you our freaking birth certificates! What more do you want?" I could see Sam's blue eyes turning that dark turquoise that they turned when she was really mad.

"I _want _ya'll to get out of this here police station! Now go on! Get!"

I saw Sam get even madder and I grabbed her shoulders before she could lunge at the cop and get us both in trouble for assaulting a police officer. She tried to struggle free but I kept holding firmly onto her shoulders and she eventually gave up. "Come on Sam," I said. "Let's get out of here," and I started leading her towards the door. Officer Bob just smirked.

When we had exited the police station I realized I still had my hands on Sam's shoulders and quickly took them off before she got mad and decided to break my arm.

"Well that was a waste of time," said Sam, crossing her arms. "And what was up with that stupid accent anyway? Does everyone in Montana talk like that?"

"No. I guess he must have grown up in the south or something. Doesn't matter. At least we found out one thing."

Sam raised her eyebrows, and I noticed her eyes were back to their normal ocean color. "And what would that be Fredlumps?"

"Well, we know why they didn't find our dads. Apparently the town of Three Forks doesn't have the brightest team of law enforcement." We both laughed, though I was half serious.

"So what now?" she said.

"Now," I replied, taking her by the arm. "We eat."

"Great, I'm starved." As if on cue her stomach growled. "I think I saw a Pearbee's not to far from here."

We hopped in the truck and headed to the Pearbee's where we talked about the plan as we ate. "So are we going to do anymore 'investigating' today after we eat?" said Sam, who had almost finished her ribs even though the waitress had just brought us our food not more than 5 minutes ago.

"Nah," I said poking at my half-eaten chicken with my fork. "We've had a long day and I think we're both pretty exhausted. After dinner I think we should just go back to the hotel and rest. Tomorrow's going to be a long day too, so we're going to need it."

Sam groaned. "You mean every day is going to be like this?"

"Pretty much," I said. "Or at least we'll have about as much down time every day as we did today, if not as much traveling. You know we have to hurry if we want to finish this before fall."

"I guess you're right," she said, folding her arms across her chest and looking down at her now-empty plate. "After all, I don't want to spend any more alone time with a dork like you than I have to."

"Sam!"

"Kidding! Kidding! Kinda…"

I sighed and gave the waitress my credit card to pay for the check she had just given me. Sam did the same. Oh well, at least she was paying for her own food.

It was after 8:00 when we got back to the hotel. I started to head into the bathroom to take a shower but Sam told me that she was going to take her's first. Of course. At least it wasn't Carly. I knew from past experience that if you were waiting for Carly to get out of the shower, you might be waiting for hours. Luckily Sam only took 30 minutes. "All yours Frednub," she said as she plopped down on her bed in her old t-shirt and pajama shorts and stuck her Pearpod head phones into her ears.

It didn't take long for me to finish my shower and put on my pajamas. When I came out of the bathroom, Sam looked up at me and smirked. "Really Benson? Galaxy Wars pajama pants?"

"Shut up Puckett," I said.

"Whatev." She put her head phones back on. I got into my own bed, opened up a book, and tried to read, but I couldn't concentrate on the words on the page in front of me. There was something that had been bugging me for a while and I figured now, when Sam and I were alone and I didn't have to worry about getting into a fight while I was driving, would be a good time to bring it up.

"Hey Sam?" I said. "Sam."

"What do you want Benson? Can't you see I'm trying to listen to music?"

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"Well no duh Fredoof. Now what did you want to ask?"

"I…I just wanted to know…that day in the hallway…the day we got into that fight and you first mentioned my dad…did you mean what you said?"

"Did I mean what?"

"You…you said I ruined your life and you hated me. Did you really mean that?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Yep," she finally replied, staring down at her legs.

I felt a wave of disappointment rush over me, though I didn't really know why. Did I really care what Sam Puckett, the girl who constantly did everything in her power to make my life a living hell, thought about me? "So that's just it," what I said was somewhere between a question and a statement. "You're just going to hate me forever because you think it's my fault your dad is gone. Funny, because I don't think I would agree to spend my summer with someone I hated that much."

"Okay," she sighed. "Maybe I know it isn't your fault my dad disappeared. It's just…I…"

"Needed someone to blame it on?" I suggested. I was a little worried she might get mad but she just nodded her head.

"When Mom told me what happened, she told me that she blamed your family. I was only a little kid at the time, so I believed her. So when she said we were moving to Seattle to be near her boyfriend, (who she said was 'the One'; they broke up three days after we moved), Melanie and I got kind of worried about seeing you and your mom by accident. I decided I could handle it, but Melanie insisted that she be sent to that fancy boarding school, and of course my mom said yes. After all, it was one less mouth to not feed and my rich grandparents offered to pay to send Melanie there. She never did get over being mad at your family."

"Wait, so then why did she act like she liked me when she came to visit?"

"Oh, yeah. I told her your last name was Dorfman."

"Dorfman like Carly's nerdy relatives?"

"Exactly. Anyway, I didn't exactly expect to run into you on my first day of middle school, and when you said who you were, well…I guess I got a little mad."

"A little?" I chuckled. "Sam, you pushed me out of my desk twice, stole my lunch money, tied my shoe laces to Gibby's so we would trip and fall on each other, and locked me in a football player's smelly locker. And that was just the stuff you did before lunch!"

Sam smirked her signature smirk. "Yeah," she said. "Good times. But Like I was saying, I blamed you all the way through middle school and high school, even though deep down I knew it wasn't your fault. And it's not. Not your fault that is. I…I guess what I'm trying to say is…is…"

I stopped her. "Apology accepted," I said. Sam smiled. Not a smirk, but a real smile. It looked good on her. Not that the smirk didn't too. What am I saying? Ah, never mind. "So why'd you decide to come to Seattle anyway if you knew you might mean seeing me? Why didn't you just go to boarding school like Melanie?"

"Uh-uh." Sam shook her head. "That's enough questions from you for a while. Now it's my turn."

"Alright, shoot."

"Did you mean what _you_ said that day?"

"What did I say?"

"You said that you didn't know why Carly put up with me, but you weren't going to anymore. And you called me a 'self-centered, inconsiderate excuse for a human being.'" She tried to say it like it was nothing but I could see the hurt in her eyes.

"Wow. You really remembered it word for word huh? Well I think the first part of your question is pretty clear. I'm still here; still putting up with you even though you drive me crazy. And as for the second thing I said: no to that one too. I was just mad and I let my temper get the better of me. I didn't mean what I said, and I really am sorry." She nodded, looking a relieved.

"Oh," she said, "Why were you mad at me again?"

I had to think for a while before I remembered. It had seemed like such a big deal at the time, but looking back the fight now seemed silly. "Oh yeah, you kept saying Carly would never love me," I said though I knew that wasn't really the part that made me mad.

"Wait, so what was so different about that time? I've told you that a million times before and you haven't gotten that mad."

"Well," I said, trying to decide whether I should tell her the truth or not. "You see, I wasn't really all that mad about you saying Carly wouldn't love me. I actually got over my crush on Carly a long time ago. It's just…then you said _no_ girl in her right mind would ever love me. That part kind of…I don't know…it kind of got to me."

"Oh. Freddie…you know I didn't mean that." For once her voice was gentle. "I know there is a girl out there somewhere who would love even a dork like you."

"Wow Sam, that's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it nub." Her voice was back to its usual roughness.

I laughed. "Okay, your turn. Now answer my question that I asked before. Why did you come to Seattle and not go to boarding school?"

"Oh, yeah, well…because I figured I could put up with you, but I couldn't spend 24 hours a day at school. That'd be torture!"

"Of course," I chuckled, though I felt like she wasn't being completely truthful.

"So are we cool?" I asked.

"Sorry Fredgeek, but you'll never be cool." There was the smirk again. "But we are friends."

"So…does this mean you don't hate me?"

"Oh no, I still hate you."

"What? But you just said…"

Sam held up her hand for me to stop. She sighed and looked at me like I was stupid; as though what she had said made perfect sense. "I said I hated you Dork. I never said I didn't like you too."

I was still kind of confused as to what exactly that meant, but I figured I had bothered Sam enough for the time being. This conversation had gone better than I thought it might, but I didn't want to push my luck, so I just smiled back at her as she set her Pearpod aside and laid down to go to sleep.

I looked over at the clock to see we'd been talking for quite a while. It was now almost 11:00. Pretty late considering I only got a few hours of sleep the night before and had been driving all day. I looked back at Sam whose steady breathing told me she was already sleeping, and I decided to do the same. I turned off the lamp beside my bed and snuggled under the covers, but before I went to sleep I caught one last look at Sam sleeping in the other bed. It wasn't often I got to look at her when she wasn't angry and didn't have food in her mouth. I realized that I liked the way her wild blonde hair went in all different directions and partially covered her face as she slept. She must have been having a good dream, because as I watched her sleep in the dim light of the hotel room, a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Good night Sammy," I whispered, glad she couldn't hear me. I closed my eyes and almost immediately drifted into sleep.

**Hmmm…I don't think threats are working too well anymore. Let's try reverse psychology! Don't review! Okay, that makes me nervous. No more reverse psychology, just REVIEW! PLEASE? I'll love you forever if you do!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Aloha! Which, in case you don't speak Hawaiian, probably means hello! Or it might mean goodbye. Silly Hawaiians, making hello and goodbye be the same word. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to figure out what it is on your own. I'll give you a hint: If you think it's 'goodbye' in this case, you're wrong! I don't know why you say goodbye; I say hello.**

**Disclaimer: Ah, you caught me! I'm secretly Dan Schneider: a grown man who likes to pretend he is a 16 year old girl while writing fan fiction stories about a show he owns. It all makes sense now!**

"Sam. SAM. SAM, wake up." As I heard these words I felt a shaking motion on my shoulder slowly bringing me into consciousness. I cracked my eyelids open to see two very tired, big, brown eyes staring back at me.

"Unnhhh…" I groaned, closing my eyes tight again. It was way too early to wake up, especially to wake up to Freddie's eyes, which despite his dorkiness, were really intense. "Five more minutes…" I mumbled.

"Okay," I heard. "But just five minutes. Then you have to get up."

"Uh huh," I said, pulling the covers over my head. I tried to recapture the dream I had just been woken up from, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was about. Whatever it was it made me happy, so I must've had a good dream for a change. Not like my usual dreams. My dreams were usually sad, scary, or just plain weird. Or a combination of the three. Like the dream I used to have where a monster would steal my soup. Well whatever dream I had last night, I'm glad I had it. Somehow, even though I couldn't remember what it was about, it had put me in a better mood. And now for some reason I had the song _Running Away _stuck in my head. Weird. I hadn't listened to that song in ages.

I finally gave up trying to remember my dream and decided I would go ahead and get up, even though Freddie had said he would let me sleep a few minutes longer. I reluctantly threw the covers off and began to rise off of the mattress, my eyes still closed. Slowly I opened my eyes to see Freddie standing near his bed just a few feet away. As soon as I saw him my eyes opened wide and my mouth dropped open a little.

"Umm…" I started, but I was at a loss for words. Freddie looked over at me, obviously embarrassed.

"Oh, I uh…I thought you were still going to be asleep for a few more minutes," he said, quickly slipping a blue polo shirt over his head. He had apparently been trying to decide what shirt to wear, but when he noticed me staring at him he grabbed the shirt closest to him and covered up his bare chest as fast as he could. I guess I was glad when he did this because it helped reduce the awkwardness that seemed to be in every inch of the tiny hotel room. But I also felt something else; a small twinge of disappointment when he covered up his surprisingly muscular chest. I had seen Freddie without a shirt on before when we had gone swimming, but that was years ago. That was before he got muscles. Now the sight of him half naked made my mouth dry out and I went a little weak at the knees.

"J-jeez Frederly," I said, trying to hide the trembling in my voice. "Can't you get dressed somewhere else? Nobody wants to see that much of your nubishness first thing in the morning."

"Ha ha. Your childish insults are so funny Sam," he said, rolling his eyes. "Just go get ready. We've got a big day ahead of us."

"Whatever," I said and headed toward the bathroom, grabbing my suitcase as I went. I soon emerged with somewhat presentable hair, freshly brushed teeth, a yellow penny-tee that read 'hobo snot,' jean shorts, and my favorite high-top sneakers. Freddie was already ready and we headed downstairs and out to his truck, where he drove me to the nearest Waffle Shack.

"So wah ah we do-in thoday?" I asked, my mouth full of waffles and strawberry syrup.

"Sam, were you even listening when I told you the plan? And don't talk with your mouth full."

"Don't tell me what to do Benson," I said, shoving another mouthful of waffle in my mouth. "An' yefff, I wah lithinin. Par uf da time." Freddie sighed and shook his head at me, but proceeded to explain today's plan to me again anyway.

"Okay," I said when I had finished my waffles and Freddie had decided he had eaten enough of his. "Let's get going. Oh, and one more thing?" Freddie turned back around to face me and I wiped my sticky, syrup-covered hands on his shirt.

"Sam!" he yelled, not seeming to care that everyone in the restaurant could hear him.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" I said and took off for the exit. I ran out to the parking lot and was almost to the safety of the truck when he caught me. That was another thing puberty had done to him. It made him much taller than me. And his longer legs could now outrun my short ones easily. He grabbed me from behind and kept me just out of reach of the car door.

"Let me go Freddweeb!" I shrieked at I struggled in his arms. "You're going to get the syrup from your stupid shirt on me!"

"That's the idea," he said. I turned my head to see he had my smirk on his face. I immediately stopped struggling and the smirk disappeared, replaced instead by a serious expression as his eyes met mine. We stayed like that for a few moments before he realized his arms were still around me and he quickly let go. We both got into the truck and headed for the spot near the Missouri river in silence.

After a few minutes he stopped the truck and we got out. I noticed the water in the river was much stiller than I had expected. In fact, the river looked almost like shiny blue glass in the clear morning air. Freddie squatted down to examine some sort of plaque on the ground, and I knelt down next to him so I could see it too.

The plaque that laid there in the dirt was smooth and black with gold-colored lettering. It read: "Headwater's Viewpoint" in big letters and the in smaller letters underneath it said "This point marks the beginning of the Missouri-Mississippi River drainage, the longest river system in North America." Then it said the town name and "Post-1810," whatever that meant. **(A/N: This is a real plaque, and if you go to my profile I will be putting up a picture of it there.)**

"So what exactly are we looking for?" I asked.

"Anything that might reveal a clue," Freddie responded as he continued to stare at the plaque and the ground near it.

"Well _that's_ not vague at all."

Freddie let out a small sigh. "Look, there has to be something here. This is supposedly where the body of Dougland Smiddy was found with a bullet wound in his head. But how did he get shot if no one else was around? And if one of our dads shot him and had the gun, why weren't they there when the police showed up even though Smiddy was dead and they shouldn't have had anything else to worry about? Something just doesn't add up, and I have a feeling that we might find some answers here."

I shrugged my shoulders and somewhat reluctantly started searching around for who-knows-what. Even though it was still morning, the summer air was already pretty hot and it was getting hotter by the second.

"UGGHHH," I groaned loudly as I walked towards Freddie after searching for what seemed an eternity. "This is useless. We should've known it wasn't going to be this easy."

"Just a few more minutes," said Freddie, not even bothering to look at me as he examined a large rock about the size of my fist that was lying on the wet dirt near the water.

"No! We've been here for an hour now and we haven't found one clue! You know why? Because there isn't anything here!"

"Sam…"

"And looking at a bunch of stupid rocks for," I glanced at my watch, "Almost two hours now isn't going to do anything but make us both dirty and hot, and make me angry."

"Sam."

"I don't know why I even agreed to this. Your stupid plan isn't even a plan! 'Oh hey, I'm Freddie,'" I said making my voice sound like a boy's, "'Let's drive for 10 hours and end up in the middle of Nowheresville just so we can talk to stupid policemen and stare at rocks.'"

"_Sam._"

"Face it Fredbag, there's no hope, so we might as well just give up and go back to Seatt…"

"_SAM!_" Freddie's loud exclamation stopped me mid-sentence. I stared at him and he held out his palm, which was holding a small object. "Look."

**Ok, so I think this story is going to be really long. At least that's the way it's looking now. It's the end of chapter 12 and we're not even done with day 2 of the journey yet, and I think the journey is going to last a few weeks at least. My goal is to have it finished before school starts (which for me is 2 weeks away), so I'm going to have to start doing better about quick updating. Like, one update per day AT LEAST. Good news for you if you're a fan, bad news for me. But one thing you guys can do that would help A LOT is to REVIEW! And I'm not talking: "oh I like/don't like your story," although even that is greatly appreciated. I mean CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! It REALLY DOES HELP by giving me new ideas and it makes it easier to write, which then makes me want to write MORE so I write SOONER and FASTER. So **_**PLEASE, HELP ME OUT PEOPLE!**_

_**REVIEW! NOW!**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello! Before I start, a BIG thank you to all my reviewers, ESPECIALLY tvfan72, IronishRose, Flutter360, and iLet it Rock, who paid attention to the author's note at the end of the chapter and had some CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM for me! Yeah, that's right. People who don't criticize and ignore my author's notes don't get their names mentioned. Maybe that will encourage you non-criticizers to criticize in the future! Ha, but really, thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed, I even appreciate the ones who didn't criticize. Oh, you know I love all of you guys!**

**And this is a response to tvfan72's review, since they don't have an account and I can't send them a message. I really like your idea. Now, before you start searching through this chapter to find it, it's not in this chapter. But I might just use it in a later chapter. I already have an idea of where I could put it to incorporate it into the story. It may be several chapters from now, but I'm almost certain that I'm going to use it somewhere in this story. Thank you so much for your input!**

**Disclaimer: If anyone tries to file a lawsuit against me for pretending I own iCarly, they must not have read the 12 previous disclaimers. Or they're REALLY stupid. Either way they would be admitting to reading fan fiction about a children's TV show. Sure, I'm 16 and I read iCarly fan fiction, but none of you know my identity so MWAHAHAHAHA! For all you know, I could be Batman. Which, btw, would be AWESOME!**

**Freddie's POV**

"_SAM!_" Sam finally stopped talking and looked at me. I held out my palm so she could see what I had just found. "Look."

She looked at the small black, fuzzy object and furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "What is that thing?" she said.

"Well, it appears to be a…a fake mustache?" I was a still a little confused myself.

"Ew, gross," she said. She then of course reached out and poked it. "Where did you even find it?"

"Under that big rock I was looking at before. Looks like it's been there for years."

"And this is significant why?"

"Sam," I said, not really sure if I should say what I was thinking. It seemed too crazy, and after all, it was really hard to tell if I was right or not. "See that stuff on the right corner of the moustache?" I pointed to a where the dirt that lightly dusted the rest of the mustache became denser, more clumped together, and a much darker, ruddier shade of brown. "It doesn't look like dirt. I…I could be wrong but to me it kind of looks like…dried blood."

"Well that's a little freaky."

"I know right?"

"Well…what do you think it means?"

"Not a clue, but it must be important. How many normal tourists would hide a bloody fake mustache under a rock? And it looked to me like it was placed under that rock on _purpose_."

"What? You're off your rocker Benson. Why would anyone hide a fake mustache on purpose?"

"Why would anyone need a fake mustache in the first place?" I retorted.

"Touché Fredalupe."

"And besides," I said, smiling a little at her odd nickname for me, "The rock was embedded in the ground pretty deep. I had to dig a little just to pick it up. And when I got the rock out, the mustache was in a smaller hole underneath the hole the rock was in. See?" I pointed to the small round hole in the dirt. "Someone wanted to hide it where no one could find it but they could still get to it easily if they wanted."

"So we know someone who's been here was a freak who liked to wear bloody fake mustaches and then hide them under a rock for safe keeping. It all makes sense now!"

"Look, we don't have any other clues to go on for now," I said, putting the moustache in a small plastic bag and then stuffing it in my backpack. "I'll take what I can find."

"Whatever." Sam rolled her eyes at me.

"Hey, I don't see you finding any clues."

"That face wig is not a clue!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't!"

"It is a clue!"

"Your face is a clue!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a nerd!"

"Stop calling me a nerd!"

"Make me Fredpus!"

"Okay I will!" I said and grabbed her wrists. Before I knew it we were on the ground wrestling. It wasn't long before I had pinned her by her wrists to the dirt.

"Let me go Techgeek!"

"Not until you promise to be nice!"

"Never!" she said and tried to push me off. Luckily I was too strong for her.

"Didn't you promise yesterday we'd try to get along?"

"Well I changed my mind, now let me go!"

"No! Say you'll be nice!"

"Benson!" she yelled.

"Puckett," I warned.

We then had a staring contest. But staring at her eyes proved to be difficult. I knew her eyes were pretty, but I had never seen them this close before. I now realized they weren't pretty; they were...beautiful.

"Ha, you blinked!" yelled Sam suddenly and pushed me off of her. Crap. I had forgotten I wasn't supposed to blink. I had also forgotten not to let her free and I had relaxed my grip on her wrists. Stupid beautiful eyes.

"I'll get you next time Puckett," I said as I got up and dusted the dirt off my clothes.

"In your dreams Fredhead." She smirked at me as she wiped the dirt off her clothing too.

"Well anyway, I think this is about all we're going to find here. I looked all over the internet before we came and this town is really small. The only places of interest were right here and the police station. Might as well move on to the next part of the plan."

"Can we eat first?" asked Sam.

"Yes," I laughed, "Of course Princess Puckett."

**Mystery POV**

I watched the children as they searched around the lake. After almost two hours of searching, it looked like they were going to give up, and I started to leave from my spot in the bushes as silently as I could, so I wouldn't run the risk of them noticing me when they went back to they're car.

Suddenly the boy told the blonde girl he had found something, and to look at it. I strained my eyes to see if it was what I feared it might be. I could just barely make out the small furry object from where I was hiding. Maybe they didn't know what it was, or they would think it wasn't important. Damnit. The boy was smart. He knew exactly what it was and even noticed the dried blood that had been on it for over a decade and a half now. The two teens started fighting with each other, and I decided now would be the time to leave. They were so absorbed in their arguing and they didn't even notice me as I sneaked from the bushes and back to my car parked in its secret hiding spot half a mile away.

**Sam's POV**

Freddie and I had a relatively uninteresting lunch at a Burger Barn and left the town of Three Forks around 12:30. Freddork had mapped it all out weeks ago. Going to the river confirmed his suspicion that it would've been easy for one or both of our dads to fall in the water and get swept away by the tide. We, or rather he, had decided we would follow the river southeast, keeping our eyes peeled for anything unusual along the way, and stopping at the major cities. Freddie had figured it would be more likely they would be in a bigger city if they were hiding somewhere, since in smaller ones everybody knew everyone else, and in big ones you could blend in with the crowd, which would be good if you were hiding from someone. Which reminded me…

"He Fredbag," I said.

"Yeah?" he said, not taking his eyes off the road.

"You never told me. What makes you think they would be hiding anyway? After all, Smiddy was already dead. What did they have to hide from?"

"If they had nothing to hide from then why do you think they didn't come home?"

"I don't know. This whole thing still confuses the heck out of me. I'm just glad…"

"You're just glad of what?"

"Uh…" Crap. I hadn't meant to say that.

"Just glad I'm here to help you out?" he suggested.

"_No_. I was just going to say I was glad for…uh…MapJourney. It's been a very helpful website."

"Uh huh, sure," he said with a smug expression.

"Wipe that look off your face Bensonerd, unless your face likes getting slapped."

"Yes ma'am," he said, though the smirk remained on his lips.

We drove for the next few hours in silence until we finally got to the town of Bismarck, North Dakota late that night.

**Mystery POV**

The little brats had to go and drive all the way to Bismarck. It was hard to keep up with them at times without them noticing someone was following them, and I was starting to wonder if this was even worth my trouble. Most likely they wouldn't find anything out, but I guess you can never be too careful. The boy did seem to be pretty smart, and the girl was no dummy either. No, I wasn't going to ignore this. It was too risky for me to just let them go. No one could find out what had really happened 16 years ago. I had to stop them.

**Dun dun dun! Who is this mystery person? Why are they stalking Sam and Freddie? WHO WAS 'YOU'RE SO VAIN' WRITTEN FOR? Oh, wait, not what we were talking about here. Scratch that last question. Unless you happen to know the answer, then I would be glad to know.**

**I don't really like the way this chapter turned out much. I didn't get to put in many of the suggestions that my reviewers gave me, but trust me, those suggestions WILL come into play later, so your typing has not been in vain.**

**Review. Criticize. Yada yada yada.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey! Sorry it took me so long to update. Turns out this story isn't going to be as long as I thought it would be though, because it was moving slowly and I'm trying to speed it up a little. I guess that kind of triggered my stupid procrastination. Forgive me? **

**Okay loves, there is something I would like to make perfectly clear before I start with this chapter. Coketree20 has pointed out to me that I shouldn't tell you to criticize. And I just want to say that if you don't want to, you most certainly DON'T HAVE TO CRITICIZE. If you have criticism for me: great, it helps me to know what you guys are thinking and unlike with TV shows, I will most likely listen to your ideas and try and do what you guys want me to do. If you want to tell me you liked it: also great. I like hearing that too. If you want to tell me you hated it and want me to die in a fiery pit of despair: okay, well, that's a little harsh, but yay for reviews! If you have NOTHING to say to me at all: YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING. If I told you I had reviewed every single story I read on this site, I'd be lying. If I told you all of my reviews contained constructive criticism, I'd still be lying. And I don't want to be a liar or to seem pushy. If I did seem pushy, that was the sarcasm talking. What? I use sarcasm? Okay, I'll stop now.**

**I would however like to thank the people who did criticize: I thank iLet it Rock (awesome ideas, as usual; a lot of this chapter was influenced by your ideas), King-Hedgehog, and yes, even you coketree20, although your criticism wasn't actually about the story itself. Oh don't be mad coketree20. Hey, wait! Don't leave! I'm sorry! Coketree? Coke? Cokemeister? Come back!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own iCarly, or the souls of the people who are reading this story. *Sigh.* Maybe someday.**

**A/N: This chapter takes place a couple days after the last one. Just thought I'd clarify that so you don't get confused.**

**Freddie's POV**

The hotel room was already bright when I woke up. I thought at first it was the sun and that I had overslept, but then I noticed the light was coming not from the window, but from the small bedside table lamp. In fact, there was no light coming from the window. I checked the clock. 3:49 AM. I moved my gaze to the other bed to see Sam, fully awake and she was…no…she couldn't be…Sam Puckett was…

"Reading?" I said. Sam looked up suddenly, startled by the sound of my voice. "What the heck are you doing reading? And at three-something in the morning?"

"Ah, shut up Fredwart. I couldn't sleep."

"So you chose to read? And since when do you have insomnia? I've seen you sleep through an MMA fight on TV with the volume all the way up."

"I just have a lot on my mind, okay?" I saw a tear roll down her cheek and onto the copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird _that was clenched in her hands. Wow, seeing Sam reading _and _crying? Something had to be up. I got up and went over to sit on her bed.

"What's wrong?" I said.

"Nothing!" She was usually a pretty good liar but this time I could tell she was faking it.

"Nuh uh, you wouldn't be up this late reading a book and _crying _if something weren't up. Now spill Puckett."

"I wasn't crying."

"Sam…"

She sighed, clearly defeated. "It's just, well we've been searching for a few days now, and the last thing we found was that stupid mustache you found back in Montana. We already reached the end of the Missouri River today, and I just don't think we're going to have any more luck following the Mississippi. I-I'm starting to feel like this is completely hopeless."

"They could just as easily be somewhere along the Mississippi River. The Missouri flows right into it, remember?"

"But we just keep narrowing down the places where we might find anything out as we get further and further along. The chances that we will figure out what happened aren't looking too good anymore. And besides, what if we find out that they really are dead? Is that really going to make us feel any better?"

"At least we'd know what happened to them. Besides, what have we got to lose?" I said, trying to sooth her with my calm-sounding voice.

"But what if we..." she sighed deeply and shook her head. "Never mind."

"What were you going to say?"

"I was just going to say…what if we _do _have something to lose."

"Like what?" I was confused.

"Freddie, have you noticed something, or rather _someone_ a little strange since we left Montana?"

I thought for a minute. "Um…the one-eyed hobo at that gas station in Iowa who kept talking to all the red cars?"

"No," she said. "I mean…have you noticed something…a truck you keep seeing over and over again?"

"Yeah, mine."

Sam picked up a pillow and hit my arm with it. "Don't be a smart ass. I meant a _different _truck. An old blue Ford pickup truck. I tried to ignore it at first, but I swear I keep seeing it everywhere we go, but I can never get a good look at the driver. His windows are tinted pretty dark, but I can tell he is always wearing big sunglasses and a baseball cap. What if…what if he's following us?"

"Nah, I don't think so. My truck's not so nice that anyone would want to steal it and if he wanted to do anything bad to some teenagers I think he could've found someone else instead of wasting his time driving all the way down the country."

"But…what if he's after us _specifically. _My mom, when I was little and she was sober enough to form complete sentences, used to tell me and Melanie how my dad always said how tricky Dougland Smiddy was. She said that he would go after anyone associated with your dad, and he would stop at nothing until he got what he wanted."

"Sam, you don't actually think that Dougland Smiddy is following us, do you?"

"Well, I mean, I think it's possible. And it's not like we really know that much about him. Didn't you say you searched all over the internet for information about him and you found almost nothing?"

"We know Smiddy is dead! He died years ago!" I realized I was shouting and took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Look, you don't have anything to worry about. The police found Smiddy's body and everything. He's dead."

"But what about the truck that's been following us? Even if it's not Smiddy, it could be one of his cohorts."

"I haven't seen anyone following us. It's probably all in your imagination. Lots of people drive blue Fords. You probably just saw more than one of them."

"Yeah, I guess…" she said, though she still didn't seem convinced.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine. Now try and get some sleep." I got up and went back to my bed.

"Alright. Good night Dish Rag," I heard Sam say as she and I both settled back into our own beds and she turned off the lamp.

"Night Sam."

**Sam's POV**

We had just finished our breakfast at a small diner called _Maud's_ and we were about to get up and head out the door when I heard Freddie say my name.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?" I said, sitting back down in the booth.

"I was just wondering…I mean, we've been working so hard at searching and everything…maybe we could take a little break? St. Louis is only about half an hour from here and we'd be passing through it briefly anyway. Why don't we take a little time off and spend the day having fun there?"

"Why? What is there to do in St. Louis anyway?"

"There's the Gateway Arch that I've always wanted to see. I think you'd like going to the top of it. Plus there's a big park and a whole bunch of cool museums…"

"Ew, who wants to spend their day in a stupid museum?"

"Come on Sam, please? I think it would be a lot of fun. And we could really use a break."

"Fine," I sighed. "Just don't think you're going to drag me into one of your geekseums."

Freddie laughed. "Deal."

**Mystery POV**

I followed the children all the way to West Alton, Missouri, the place where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi. They hadn't found any more clues since the one in Three Forks, so things weren't looking too good for them. But they were getting dangerously close to St. Louis. I didn't want to have to hurt them. After all, that might draw attention. But if they spent too much time there, I knew something would have to be done.

**Freddie's POV**

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was just about to start going down. Sam and I sat next to me in Forest Park, our legs dangling over the edge of an old dock as we dipped our toes in the cool water of some small pond there. I gazed out over the water, noticing how similar the color was to Sam's eyes. The rapidly setting sun even made the water sparkle like her eyes did when she was up to something. I suddenly realized I was day dreaming about Sam Puckett and shook my head to clear those thoughts.

"What are you doing Benson?" Sam asked, noticing me shaking my head.

"Uh…nothing. Just thinking."

"About?"

"How fun today was." It wasn't a complete lie. I had had a lot of fun today. And a lot of that had to do with Sam.

"Yeah, today wasn't half bad," she agreed. "That arch was pretty cool chiz. And I even kind of liked that art museum you ended up dragging me into even though I told you not to. But if you tell anyone I said that I'll bring you back here just to bring you up to the top of the arch and push you off." I looked at her and I knew she didn't mean her threat. Her lips were turned upward in something that was starting to look more like a smile than a smirk. I smiled back before looking back at the horizon. The sun was now about two thirds of the way hidden - one third by the horizon, the other by the giant arch that almost overwhelmed the city - and the sky was a mix of colors, dominated mostly by a soft purple. I looked down into the water which had changed color to match the sky and I got an idea.

"Hey," I said, looking back at Sam from the corner of my eye. "Want to go for a swim?"

"A swim? Are you insane Benson? We don't even have swim suits."

"So we'll swim in our clothes."

"I don't know…"

"Why not? When have you ever cared about messing up your clothes?"

"It's not that, it's just…I…I sorta, kinda…cmfff smfff." She turned her head to the side and covered her mouth as she said the last part.

"What?"

"I said I can't swim, okay?" She looked at me briefly and turned back away, folding her arms across her chest.

"Really?" She nodded. "Well, do you want to learn?"

"I don't think I can. To tell you the truth, I've always been a little afraid of the water."

"Nah, the Sam Puckett I know isn't afraid of anything."

"You don't know the half of it…" she mumbled.

"Come on, you only think you're afraid because you don't know how to swim. Let me teach you."

She bit her lip for a second before responding. "Okay."

I smiled as I took my phone out of my pocket and quickly dropped myself into the water, beckoning her to do the same. She still looked a little hesitant. "It's okay," I said. The water is shallow right here. You'll be able to stand." She then slowly lowered herself into the water beside me. Where the water only came up a little above my waist, it came all the way up to her chest. "Good," I said. "Now let's go deeper."

"What? But I thought we were going to stay in the shallow water."

"You can't tread water in water this shallow. Don't worry. I'll be right there the whole time."

"Okay…"

I grabbed her gently by the waist and we walked towards the deeper middle of the pond. Before long the water was up to my chin and I had to tighten my grip on her because her legs could no longer touch bottom without the water covering up her nose. "Okay," I said to her as I moved from facing her to her side, still holding onto her waist, "Now just relax and start pumping your legs like you're on a bicycle." She did as I said. "Good, now move your arms back and forth like this." I showed her with one arm as I kept the other on her back, just in case. She started to slip beneath the water but caught herself just in time.

"Hey! I'm doing it!" she said excitedly. "I'm…woah!" she screamed as she started to lose her balance again. This time she didn't catch herself and her head disappeared into the now very deep water that we had moved into while treading.

"SAM!" I yelled and dove beneath the water to get her. I had her up above the water's surface in a matter of seconds, my arms wrapped around her protectively as she coughed up water. Her body was pressed up against mine, and our faces were very close together. What happened next was all kind of a blur, but the next thing I knew, Sam and I were pulling our lips apart out of the kiss she had just given me. I stared at her for a moment. "I think that's enough swimming for one day," I said, and we made our way back to the dock.

We sat on the dock, shivering in silence before she finally turned to face me in the now dark evening. "Freddie...back there...I...I don't know why I did that. I didn't mean to. I guess I just got caught up in the moment with you saving me and all."

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed that what had just happened was only an accident. "Yeah, it's okay. No biggie." I was about to say something else when I heard a noise behind us. A car door slamming. We both turned around to see a man getting out of an old blue Ford truck. He looked familiar, but I didn't quite know why. Then he removed his sunglasses and baseball cap and I knew where I'd seen him before.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Officer Bob. "But you two need to come with me. You've been sticking your noses in where they don't belong."

"Isn't that the police officer from Montana?" Sam whispered to me. I nodded. "Didn't he have a southern accent?"

"Funny you should ask," said Bob. "You see, I only use that accent when I'm at the police station. When I'm after somebody, well, then my native New Jersey accent seems to come back." As he said this he reached behind his back for something.

"What do you want Bob?" said Sam, obviously aggravated.

"Just for you two to cooperate. But I think as long as we are having this little get together, you should call me by my given name." He then pulled out his hand gun and pointed it straight at my head. "Call me Dougland."

**Dun dun dun! Sorry, that's all for now! You'll just have to wait 'till I update for more. See you later! Thanks again to iLet it Rock for all the great suggestions! You do indeed rock.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Jeez, it's been a LOOOONG time since I last updated. My life has been a little crazy the last few days and I was feeling too depressed write. I'm feeling a little better now though, so HOPEFULLY I'll start doing better about updating. School starts back TOMORROW so I don't think I'll be able to update for a couple of days, but lucky for me it's a three-day week and I can hopefully have a new chapter up this weekend. I don't think there are going to be too many more chapters anyway.**

**Oh yeah, and before I start I would like to respond to the message sent to me by I-Go-By-Many, since this person doesn't have an account and I couldn't send them a message. Thank you. I'm honored. And as far as your question goes, well, if you are reading this I think you know when I will write another chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Good news! Dan Schneider just signed over his extremely popular children's show to a lonely teenage girl who likes to write fan fiction! In my dreams! Okay, not even in my dreams. But in my fantasies at least.**

**WARNING:**** Okay, I know I said there probably wouldn't be anything worse in this story than some mild cussing, but I have to warn you that this chapter ****CONTAINS BLOOD AND VIOLENCE**** so if you are disturbed by that kind of thing you might not want to read it. This should be the only violent chapter though. After that everything should be pretty PG. **

**Sam's POV**

Part of me wanted to yell "I told you so!" at Freddie. Part of me wanted to beat Dougland Smiddy to a fine pulp right then and there. Unfortunately, the part of me that controlled my body movement didn't want to or simply couldn't do anything. So I just stood there; speechless, motionless; staring at the rusty black gun pointed in mine and Freddie's direction.

"You," Freddie managed to murmur finally. "You're supposed to be dead."

"And yet here I am. Do I look dead to you? Didn't think so. And if you're thinking about that silly police report saying I was found with a bullet in my head, well, let's just say when you're second identity is a cop, you can manage to – how shall I put it – twist some facts around."

"Why?" I heard a voice choke out. The voice didn't sound like Freddie's. It took me a moment to realize the voice was my own.

"_Why? _Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I didn't feel like going back to jail? Come on blondie, you can't really be that stupid can you?"

"HEY! She's _not_ stupid!" yelled Freddie, his face becoming redder every second.

"Fine. I won't argue with you. It's pointless anyway. I might as well tell you everything. It's not like you'll get the chance to ever tell anyone." A cruel smile was on Smiddy's lips as he spoke. "I will tell you what I know, and in return, I expect you to do exactly what I say. Your fathers didn't cooperate, and well, I don't think you want to end up like them."

"Where are they? What did you do to them?" yelled Freddie.

"Where? Hell if I know. And I don't give a damn. But as for what I did to them, let's just say they were once in a position _very _much like the one you two are in now, and when they refused to do what I asked of them they had to go for a little not-so-pleasant swim down the river. Where their bodies ended up, I don't know. But I assure you, by the time they got wherever it was they were going, they were just that. Bodies. Nothing more, and by now definitely something less."

When he said the word "bodies" I felt a chill go up my spine. I unknowingly reached for Freddie's hand and was only aware of this fact when he took it in his own.

"Now, are you two going to come with me, or are you going to make me do something you might regret? Your choice."

I glanced at Freddie as his grip on my hand tightened. "Where are you going to take us?" he said.

"Oh, just to the site of a little _project _of mine. Don't you know, Fredward, that your father was framed for a crime _I _was found guilty of? Well I'll let you in on a little secret, the court may have believed it was just a little fraud case, but in reality my project is bigger than you could ever imagine. You see, I've had this project of mine going for oh, about 20 years now. That fraud case that I was found guilty of was just one little piece of the puzzle. In fact, it really had nothing to do with my plan. I only did that so I could frame your father. The plan was for him to go to jail, and for me to bail him out in return for some…assistance. Your father was a very bright man Fredward, and he could've been a great help to me. But he was just a little too smart for his own good, and when he figured out what I had done, he made sure I was found guilty and sent to jail. Needless to say I was very angered by this, and so when I broke out of jail and we met again in Montana, I gave him a choice. He could either come with me to this lovely little town of St. Louis and help me in my project, or he could die. It was his choice, and unfortunately he made the wrong one."

"And…"said Freddie, "What exactly _was _this project?"

"Just to use the power of GPS technology combined with video cameras on the GPS satellites to monitor the most powerful people on the planet, learn all their secrets, find a way to dispose of them and eventually achieve world domination." There was an evil smile on his face.

"Wow," I said. "You've got some major issues dude."

He ignored my statement and continued. "It has not been an easy thing to do, but my plan is almost ready to put into action. Unfortunately, there is still one tiny glitch in the technology that none of my associates have been able to figure out. That, Fredward, is where you come in. I know you are good with computers, like your father. _You _can help me, and in return, if you and your little blonde friend behave yourselves, no harm will come to you or your families." He smirked a little. "Probably."

Freddie and I looked at each other. One look into his eyes that were darting back and forth between me and another dock on the other side of the pond and I knew what he wanted me to do. I glanced back at the criminal briefly to warn him that we couldn't act immediately, and he gave a barely noticeably nod. Dougland Smiddy remained clueless to our nearly-telepathic conversation. "Okay," Freddie said to the man, though he didn't take his eyes off me. "We'll go with you."

The evil man grinned menacingly. "I thought you'd see it my way." And with that he led us to his dusty old truck, his gun still pointed at our heads. The moment he looked down at his pocket as he started to search for his keys Freddie grabbed my hand and we ran full speed to the pond. We didn't hesitate as we jumped into the dark water and started making our way towards the dock on the other end of the lake. Unfortunately, I still couldn't really swim and Freddie had to carry me on his back to keep me afloat, which slowed us down considerably.

It didn't take long for Smiddy to realize what we'd done. He came to the edge of the dock and pointed a flashlight at us with one hand and the handgun at us with the other. I heard the gun fire just as Freddie pulled me beneath the water and started swimming with me underwater. This seemed like a good plan…until we had to come up for air.

**Freddie's POV**

I was desperately trying to make it to the other end of the lake and hopefully to temporary safety, but it was hard to swim when I had to basically carry Sam on my back and it was starting to get really dark out. Suddenly it wasn't so dark anymore and I turned my head just in time to see that the light was coming from a flashlight held by the same man whose finger was currently on the trigger of a rusty black gun pointed right at me. I knew he was about to shoot so I quickly ducked beneath the water, taking Sam under with me. I tried swimming underwater, but it was only about a minute and a half before we desperately needed to come up for air. Fortunately, by then the water had gotten shallow enough that both Sam and I could stand up. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones there. I surfaced in the cold water only to find myself nearly face-to-face with Dougland Smiddy himself.

"You two didn't listen to me," he said, his eyes wild with rage. "Now which one of you wants to die first?" He pointed the gun back and forth between me and Sam.

"Shoot him first," I heard Sam's voice say.

I stared at the girl next to me incredulously. "WHAT?"

"Just trust me," she whispered softly. Even in the darkness of the evening I could see in her bright blue eyes that she had a plan.

"Very well," said Smiddy and settled on pointing his gun at my head. "Any last words boy?"

"Um…yeah. I just want to say…that um…I…" I stalled as long as I could and I could see Smiddy getting more irritated by the second. He rolled his eyes and as he did a small hand shot out and grabbed him between his neck and shoulder. He immediately fainted into the water and Sam and I took off running for shore. I guess the shock of the water had woken Smiddy up though, because he was right on our tails. Fortunately he had lost his gun in the water. Unfortunately he was now holding a very large, very sharp knife and the distance between him and us was getting smaller and smaller.

He caught us with us and aimed the knife at my throat. I jerked my head down and back so the knife only made contact with my chin. He tried again, this time going for Sam, but Sam was too quick for him. In less than a second she had managed to knock Smiddy to the ground and she was now in possession of his knife.

"You have no more weapons," she growled in a shaky voice, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Surrender and you get to live."

Again the creepy smile returned to the madman's lips. "What, so you can call the police and I can go back to jail?" Before Sam could react he had grabbed her wrist and flung her to the ground, where she hit her head on a large rock. He stood and took the knife out of her now unconscious fingers. "I don't think so Little Girl." He raised the knife above him and I could see he was aiming it at her stomach. Everything went into slow-motion. Adrenaline took over and I could feel myself running faster than I had ever run before, and as I came into contact with the man's large, sweaty body, I pushed him to the ground with more strength than I ever thought I had, and I landed on my back a few feet away. His arm, with his hand still firmly gripping the knife, landed on the ground a spit second before he himself landed on top of it. There was a loud scream as the knife embedded itself into his large stomach.

He continued to yell obscenities as he writhed in pain on the ground. He tried to pull himself up and started to vomit. His puke was a dark crimson-red. I watched as he finally stopped throwing up and collapsed in a bloody heap on the ground, never to move again.

For a moment I just sat there in shock, my mouth agape, trying to wrap my brain around, well, anything. Finally I walked over to the man and felt his wrist with my fingertips. There was no pulse.

Then I remembered Sam, still lying on the ground a few feet away. "Sam," I said as I walked over to her. "Sam!" She didn't respond, but I could feel a weak pulse when I felt her wrist, and in the faint moonlight I could tell that her chest was moving up and down as she struggled to take slow, labored breaths. I reached for my back pocket to get my cell phone, but it wasn't there and I remembered that Sam and I had both left our phones on the dock across the pond when we had gone swimming. I quickly plunged into the water, which made my chin sting even worse. The cut that was on it was worse than I had originally thought. My left ankle also hurt really badly, and my head was throbbing, but with all the strength I had left in my body I managed to swim back across the (thankfully small) pond and retrieve my phone.

I dialed the three numbers that I could just barely remember in my now almost delusional state, and told someone something, though I didn't really know what I was saying except I'm pretty sure I gave them the location and I couldn't seem to stop saying the words "knife," "blood," and "Sam." The last thing I remember was I was just about to end the call, when suddenly I grew even more light-headed. My knees went weak and I could feel myself falling as the already dark night turned completely black.

**Well I hope that was worth the long wait. I think there will probably only be 2 or 3 more chapters and I'll try and have the next one up soon. Good night loves.**

**Review if you liked it. Review if you didn't like it. Review if you enjoy pie. Just review. Unless you see a live moose in your shower. Then you should probably skip the reviewing and have a doctor check that out immediately. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Yeah can I have a large cheese pizza with…woah! When did you get here? What's that you say? You want the next chapter of the story? Well alright then! Here you go!**

**Sorry I didn't update Sunday like I said I would try to. But Saturday's close enough right? Right? Helloooo. Anyone there? Don't just sit there staring at your computer screen. Answer me!**

**And another thank you to all reviewers. Since this story is almost done I don't need them as badly because I pretty much know everything I want to happen, but the reviews are still appreciated! And if you have any ideas, any at all, PLEASE don't hesitate to tell me. Just because I think I know what I'm going to do doesn't mean everything is set in stone. Sorry to Seddielovergrl whose idea I unfortunately couldn't use EXACTLY (though that doesn't mean it won't be something kind of SIMILAR), but please don't let that discourage any of you from telling me your ideas! I'd love to hear them no matter what. **

**And now a response to a few of my beautiful reviewers who have unfortunately either neglected to create an account on this site or just didn't feel like logging in. To kenzie: Haha, that's great. I love to hear I am encouraging people to have insomnia like me. Ha, but really, thanks for your review. And keep typing I shall. **

**To I-Go-By-Many: Okay, MAYBE I shouldn't put your name up here again. You know. Seizures and whatnot. Might what to have a doctor check that out. ;) Of course, you did thank me for it so I can only assume you enjoy having random seizures, in which case you are most welcome. I am glad my writing has inspired you to have these happiness seizures of yours. Here is the "more" that you requested. **

**Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah. We ALL know I don't own iCarly. You don't have to rub it in.**

**Freddie's POV**

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed. I was connected to beeping machines in a cold room where the bitter smells of medicine and disease infected my nostrils without relief. I knew what this place was. I had been in places like this often enough since my mom worked in one. I was in a hospital.

My head was throbbing and moving it just made it worse, but I managed to lift it very slowly anyway, just enough to look around a little. Yep. This was a hospital alright. And as I saw the neatly folded pile of clothes beside my bed, I noticed I was wearing nothing but a hospital gown and that there was some sort of bandage-like thing on my ankle. I looked to the table beside my bed to find one of those remote controls that lets you move the bed up and down and pressed the up button until I was sitting up just enough to see the room clearly.

"Freddie!" said a voice from across the room. I looked over to see a very tired-looking Sam rising from her seat in the corner of the tiny room. She walked over to my bed and hugged me. The hug hurt the bruises on my shoulders but I didn't care. Apparently she realized what she was doing and pulled away quickly; much too quickly for my liking. For a while she just stood there as we stared at each other in awkward silence. Finally she spoke up.

"I'm glad you're awake." I was a little surprised by how nice she was acting, but then of course she couldn't just leave it at that. "Took you long enough dish rag," she said with the crooked smirk I couldn't help but love. I smiled a weak smile back at her but then remembered I was in a hospital and got serious again.

"How long was I out?"

"About five months," she said shrugging.

"Five months! B-but…wha…but I…and-and but…_months_?"

"Chillax Freddork. It's only been like two days. Jeez, I thought you would've learned to be a little less gullible by now."

"Oh, well, what…what happened?"

"Well, how much do you remember?"

I had to think about it for a minute. At first my mind came to me and Sam swimming in that pond in St. Louis. I kept thinking, trying to replay everything in the order it had happened. Sam almost drowned, I had saved her, she had kissed me (how could I forget), a man showed up with a gun and said he was Dougland Smiddy, Smiddy wanted us to be a part of some evil scheme, we tried to run away, Smiddy knocked Sam to the ground and was about to kill her, I tackled him and then…

"Dougland Smiddy is…dead?" I said in a small voice. Sam nodded. "And…and I killed him?"

"Pfft," said Sam rolling her eyes. "Please Freddifer, as if you would ever have the balls to kill anyone. The police say he fell on his knife."

"But Sam…I _pushed _him onto that knife."

"I know. But it's not like you actually stabbed him. Besides, it's not like you didn't have good reason to do what you did. He was attacking you."

"Actually, he wasn't. Not at the time anyway." Sam gave me a confused look. "He…he was about to kill you."

"So, you kinda saved my life?" she said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Jeez Fredward, if this is your way of trying to get girls you might want to think up something a little less dangerous."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Come on Benson, first the Carly taco truck incident and now this? I'm starting to see a pattern here."

"What? But that has nothing to do with…I…I was only trying to…"

"Chill Dipthong, it was a joke. And I…I guess I should probably say…mhnnggoo."

"What's that?" I said.

"I said thank you okay!"

I smiled. "Now was that so hard?"

She pretended to think. "Yep."

I rolled my eyes at her and she rolled hers back, smiling too.

"Oh. Well. Um…so…I'm glad to see you're okay." I said, changing the subject.

"Yeah. I was only out for a little while. I woke up about the time the police got there. I guess you had it a little worse though. The doctors said you had a slight concussion. Not to mention that sprained ankle and the stitches you had to get on your chin."

"Aren't you going to call me a wuss now?"

She laughed and sat down on the edge of my bed. "Nah, I'm just glad you're finally up. I was worried about you Fredlumps," she said, then immediately turned bright red and averted her gaze.

"Um…Freddie," she said after a few moments of silence, "There's something you should know. You see, when you were unconscious, your mom kind of noticed that…"

"My mom! Oh crap, I haven't called her since Thursday! She must be…" Just then the door to my room opened and a very familiar woman came in, stopping cold when she saw me.

"M-mom?"

"Freddie! You're awake!" My mom came over to me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Mom. MOM. You're hurting me."

"Sorry," she said and pulled away. "I-I was so worried about my little Freddie-Bear." Her eyes started to fill with tears. "You shouldn't have done this. It was too dangerous."

"I had to Mom. I'm sorry I worried you. How'd you find out about this anyway?"

"I called your grandmother. She didn't want to tell me, but when I said you hadn't called me in days she told me everything. So then I called Sam and told her I knew and she told me where you were so I came. And now that you're up you can come back home!"

"No!" Sam yelled suddenly. "We _can't _go home. Freddie, you heard Smitty. He doesn't...didn't even _really _know what happened to them. There's a chance they're still alive. We _can't _give up now! Not when we've come so far!"

"Mom," I said. "Can I please have a minute alone with Sam?"

Mom looked disappointed but reluctantly agreed and walked out of the room where I could faintly hear her telling a nurse that the floor wasn't clean enough.

"Sam," I said when I was sure my mom was definitely gone, "I don't think…"

"It doesn't matter what you _think,_ were going to keep looking. End of discussion."

I smirked at her. "Aren't you sick of me yet?"

She bit her lip hesitantly. "Freddie?" she said, and from the look on her face I knew whatever she was going to say was going to change things forever.

**Sam's POV**

"Freddie?" I said. He looked at me and then looked back down at the bedsheets.

"Yeah?"

"I…I have a confession to make."

Freddie looked up suddenly. I could feel his intense chocolate eyes staring at mine with concern. I half-wondered if he already knew what I was going to say: if those eyes could see right through me like they appeared to. "What is it Sam?"he said.

"Do you…do you remember that night…the first night of our trip…when you were asking me about that fight we had at school?"

"Yeah…"

"And you asked me why I decided to come to Seattle with my mom when I knew I might run into you? And I said that it was because I didn't want to live at a school? And I didn't even know for sure that I was going to meet you again?"

"What are you trying to say Sam?"

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "Freddie…I knew you were going to the school I was going to. Melanie and I did a little research and found out that Ridgeway was the only junior high anywhere near the Bushwell. That's why Melanie decided to go to boarding school. And that's why I decided to go to Seattle and live with my mom. I told _her _I wanted to go to Ridgeway."

Freddie looked very confused. "But…why would you…I…I don't understand."

"Freddie, maybe you don't remember our play dates that we had when we were babies, and I know Melanie doesn't, but…I do."

"Sam, we were only a year old when I moved. How could you possibly remember me?"

"My dad used to take videos of me and you and Melanie playing together. When he disappeared, my mom hid all the videos in the attic. But when I was three, I somehow managed to get up in the attic by myself and I found the videos. I already knew how to work the VCR, and I was able to watch the tapes. I guess it had been recent enough since you left, and when I saw us playing together, I remembered you. I showed them to Melanie but she didn't remember. Now those days of us playing together…they're kind of a memory of a memory, if that makes sense."

Freddie nodded his head. "But why did you remember me when you were three and your sister didn't? And that still doesn't explain why you came to Seattle."

I sighed. Enough beating around the bush. It was time to tell him. "I…I guess you never really forget your first crush." I could feel my cheeks redden, and I noticed that Freddie's were a little red too.

"I was your first crush? So, you wanted to see me again because you used to have a crush on me?" I nodded. "And…does that mean that you still had a crush on me at the time that you moved?" I nodded again.

"And I was mean to you, not only because I blamed you at first for what happened with my dad, but because I was mad at myself for liking you even though I thought you ruined my life. I didn't want to like you."

"But, when you got over your crush and realized it wasn't my fault about your dad, why did you keep torturing me?" Oy, he really was clueless wasn't he?

I slowly reached out and touched his hand, trying not to hurt the faint bruises on it. He looked a little surprised but not angry or disgusted, so I continued. I sighed as I stared into his two deep brown eyes. "Who said my crush on you ever stopped?"

**Ok, so I'm not even going to try and give myself a deadline. I think it's pretty clear I can't keep those promises. Let's just say, I'll update EVENTUALLY, and I'll try to make "eventually" come sometime soon.**

**Read. Review. All that chizz. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey! Look who's back already! I REALLY should be doing history homework right now, but I've just been in such a Seddie mood lately I couldn't help myself! I tried to update yesterday, but after getting halfway through the chapter I decided I needed to SLEEP for once. Well anyway, here it is! This will be the NEXT TO THE LAST CHAPTER. AHHH! **

**Disclaimer: If you haven't figured out by now that I DO NOT own iCarly, you really shouldn't be reading this. You need to be at a doctor's office. Like, now. And if you've already gone to the doctor and told him about your extreme stupidity and you STILL think I own iCarly, you need to go back to the doctor and get him to up your dosage. **

**Freddie's POV**

I couldn't believe what I had just heard. Sam Puckett; the bullying, aggressive, violent, overly-hungry, tough, smart, funny, beautiful SAM PUCKETT just told me she had a crush on me.

I tried to speak but my voice wouldn't work. So I just sat there staring at her, my mouth open slightly. Before I knew what I was doing I slowly leaned forward, ignoring the pain it caused my bruised body. Sam leaned down a little too. We got closer, and closer, and closer. And now our faces were only half a foot apart. Now less than three inches. One more inch…

_So she said, 'What's the problem baby?' __What's the problem I don't know__ w__ell maybe I'm in love, think about it every time __I think about it, can't stop thinking 'bout it… _**(A/N: Points for the first person to know what song this is and to tell me in a review! What do these points get you you ask? Absolutely nothing! Okay, maybe I'll mention you in the next chapter. Maybe.)**

Of _course _Sam's phone had to ring just as our lips were about to connect. I had never realized before just how appropriate Sam's ringtone was. I probably would've liked it a lot better if it had rang just a few minutes later though. We both sighed in disappointment and pulled away as she answered the call.

"Hello?...yes, this is Sam…okay…WHAT?...yes, yes, of course…I…thank you…yeah, we'll be right there…thanks again…bye."

Sam hung up her phone and I raised a quizzical eyebrow at her. She just sat there, staring at the phone for a minute, shaking ever-so slightly. When she did finally speak her voice was shaky too, and it cracked a little.

"That was the local police station," she said. "Our dads are there, waiting to meet us."

**Nathan's POV**

I could hardly believe it. After sixteen years of hiding, I could finally stop. Smiddy was dead, thanks to my son. My son. It felt weird saying that. I still thought of my son as the almost-two-year-old boy he was the last time I saw him. Thinking that he was now old enough to go on this journey, and actually defeat the man I had to hide from for years, well, that said something about just how long I had been hiding.

I looked over at my old friend. There was a small smile on his tired face, and for once he actually looked…happy. I hadn't seen him happy in years. It was bad enough that he'd had to lose all contact with his wife and daughters, but at least I had gotten away relatively unharmed. Frank hadn't been so lucky. He used to be so athletic, so tough, but his injury had changed him dramatically. I tried to stay hopeful for the both of us, but it wasn't long before he had given up all hope of us ever seeing our families again. Frank always hated being wrong, but then we got that phone call yesterday from the Witness Protection Program telling us that Smiddy was dead, well, I don't think I he minded being wrong for once.

So now here we were at the St. Louis police station, about to meet our kids (though really they weren't kids anymore, they were eighteen years old) for the first time since they were toddlers. We'd found out once we got here that they were in the hospital due to some injuries caused by Smiddy, but apparently it was minor enough that they could check out today, and the police were able to call Frank's daughter because they had her cell phone number from when the kids had come here the other day after the fight with Smiddy.

"Mr. Boyette…"

"Benson," I said. Boyette might be the name I'd gone by for years, and Bennett might have been my original name, but Benson suited me, and I wanted to have the same name as my wife and son. "Call me Mr. Benson."

"Right. Mr. Benson. And I guess you want me to call you Mr. Puckett?" he said and looked at Frank. Frank nodded. "They're here."

I looked at Frank. "Ready?"

He nodded again, and I looked at the police man and gave him a quick nod too. He wordlessly opened the door and in walked a boy with my eyes and my face and my hair. He was a little bruised and battered, and he was on crutches, but luckily it didn't look like anything that would last more than a couple weeks. Next a young girl came in who looked a lot like Frank's wife Liz, but her blonde hair was curly like Frank's darker hair was, and she had his bright blue eyes.

"Dad?" said the boy, staring right at me.

"Hi Freddie," I said, and walked over to him to pull him into a hug. I glanced over at the other father and his daughter, who hadn't yet said a word to each other. The girl was leaning down over his wheelchair to hug her handicapped father, and tears were rolling down both their cheeks. I then noticed that there was a single tear on my own face, as there was on Freddie's.

"Hello Nathan," said a soft voice. I looked up at the doorway to see someone standing there that hadn't been there a moment ago. I pulled away from my son and walked towards the woman in the doorway.

"Hello Marissa," I whispered back before pulling my crying wife to me in an embrace. "I've missed you."

**Sam's POV**

Apparently when we forgot about Freddie's truck at that pond where Smiddy found us, someone had stolen it. And since both Freddie's mom and our dads had taken planes to St. Louis, we flew home. As much as I wanted to be near Freddie, I decided that for now we should each spend time talking to our fathers. So I sat next to my dad in the row that had only two seats, and Freddie, his mom, and his dad sat together in the row with three seats in it right across from us.

The first few minutes of the flight were kind of silent and awkward, with only an occasional "so…" or "well then…," but after a while we got to talking and then it wasn't awkward anymore. He told me how he and Freddie's dad had been hiding out in some small town in North Florida, a town called Quincy, for the last sixteen years. They had to pick a place nowhere near the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers and nowhere near Seattle or New Jersey if they didn't want Smiddy to find them. They had wanted to come back to Seattle, or at least contact their families, but since that hadn't gone too well the last time, the Witness Protection Program had advised against it.

But there was one thing I still wanted to know and was afraid to ask. I was really trying my hardest not to be rude or to stare, but eventually my curiosity got the better of me. "Dad?" I said hesitantly. "Wh-what exactly happened to your leg?"

He sighed and looked down to the spot below his right knee where the rest of his leg should've been. "Dougland Smiddy happened. That night in Three Forks we ran into him right at the headwaters of the Missouri river. He told us all about his plan and threatened to shoot us if we didn't cooperate. I ran at him and was able to get the gun away from him and wrestle him to the ground while Nathan called the police, but shortly afterwards he got free and I started running. I didn't even know where I was going, I was just running. Apparently I had been running towards the water, because when he shot my leg, I fell right in. Nathan jumped in to save me, but it wasn't easy for him because I was a little bigger and he wasn't very strong. Smiddy shot into the water a couple more times, and apparently he thought he shot Nathan, but he'd actually shot my leg again in almost the same spot as before.

He left and Nathan kept me afloat until we got into the next town and we were able to get me to a hospital, but by then it was too late to save my leg and they had to amputate below the knee. After I had healed and we were safe and sound in Florida living under our new identities, Nathan tried to get me to think about getting a prosthetic leg, but I was so depressed from everything that had happened and the fact that I couldn't see you or your mom or your sister anymore that I didn't even want to go outside. I've spent the last sixteen years only going outside when it was absolutely necessary. I even got a job with Google so I could work without leaving the apartment. It's a wonder I even did that. I probably would've just sat around doing absolutely nothing, not even eating or sleeping, until it killed me, but dumb Nathan wouldn't give up hope and he wouldn't let me." He looked over at Freddie's dad with a smirk that looked just like mine, and the smirk Mr. Benson gave him in response looked pretty familiar too.

I looked over at Freddie and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Even though we'd just met them for the first time since we were babies, we both felt that we'd known our dad's our whole lives. They were that puzzle piece we'd both been missing for so long, but now neither of our puzzles had any holes. There was still one thing left unfinished though. I didn't realize it five weeks ago when Freddie and I were arguing in the school hallway, but throughout this whole journey I started to realize, maybe, just maybe, Freddie's puzzle and my puzzle fit together somehow…

_**Three days later…**_

Dad had settled into the apartment with Mom and me pretty quickly. Already Mom had started smiling again, something I had almost forgotten she could do. She'd even stopped drinking since Dad came back, and it did wonders for her personality.

Dad was happy too, and didn't seem at all depressed like he said he had been for so many years. He said he might even finally get a prosthetic leg so he could get out of his wheelchair. It would take a long time to even get the leg, and learning to walk again once he had it would be a long process, but it didn't matter too much. We were just happy being together as a family again.

As for Freddie and me, well we didn't see a lot of each other for the first couple of days after we got home. Partially because we were so busy catching up with our dads and partially because of what had happened right before the police had called me while Freddie was in the hospital. I was worried that Freddie hadn't been thinking at the time, or maybe I just thought he wanted to kiss me too but and I had been wrong. Surely by now he'd thought about it and realized he didn't like me back.

So when he called me three days after we got home, you can imagine just how nervous I was.

"Hello?" I said when I picked up my cell phone, though I knew very well who it was. He was the only person on my cell phone who had a special ringtone. So I had snatched up my phone as soon as I heard _"Did I tell you I knew your name..."_ **(A/N: And do you know what this one is? You should if you are a true Seddier!)**

"Hey Sam," he said.

"Hey Freddie," I said, too nervous about whether he was about to tell me he liked me or didn't like me to come up with a nickname for him. Luckily he didn't notice I had just called him by his real name.

"So guess, what?" He didn't even give me time to guess before he told me. "The St. Louis police department called. They found the site of Smiddy's take-over-the-world project and shut it down! Isn't that great that they were able to find it so quickly?"

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed. "Yeah. That's great."

"You okay? You sound a little down."

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Is everything with your parents going alright? Are your mom and dad getting along?"

"Yep, they're getting along great. Dad's great, and I've never seen my mom so happy. Life's good."

"Well then why do you sound so…mopey?" he said.

"I'm not _mopey _Bensonnerd. I'm doing great. Really."

"Okay," he said, though I could tell he wasn't convinced. "If you say so. Oh, but Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could come over to my place?"

"What for?"

"Just 'cause. So could you?"

"Sure. I'll be there in fifteen. See ya."

Fifteen minutes later I knocked on Freddie's front door, right on schedule. It wasn't really like me to be on time for things, or to knock on doors for that matter, but for some reason I just felt like it that day.

"Hey Mr. Benson," I said to the man who opened the door. "Where's Freddie?"

"Hi Sam," he said, letting me inside. "He's in his room."

"Thanks," I said. I made my way to Freddie's room and opened the door, this time not even bothering to knock. At first I wondered where he was, because his room appeared to be empty. Then I noticed a bit of brown hair sticking up from the back of a chair that was sitting on the fire escape outside.

"Hey," said Freddie, not even turning to look at me as I joined him on the fire escape.

"Hey. So what's up Fredwina?"

"Sam," he said, finally looking at me with eyes that held a million different emotions. Joy, fear, tiredness, apprehension, and a bunch of other things floated around in those dark chocolate pools of his. "I think you know what's up."

"Yeah," I said sighing. "Listen, you don't have to say it. I know you don't like me the same way I like you."

"Sam…"

"It's okay. Really. I'll be fine. I understand…"

"But Sam…"

"It's okay if you don't like me back. Just please don't make me sit here and listen to all the reasons why we can never be together. Just let me go now and I'll be alri…"

"SAM! For the love of gravy will you _please _just listen to me?" I quickly snapped my mouth shut and nodded.

"Good. Jeez, since when are you the insecure one? You know Sam, you've been right a lot lately. You were right about Smiddy being alive and about not giving up hope even after Smiddy said what he said about our dads. Before you didn't really have any proof that you were right either, but you were right anyway. And this time there's good reason to believe you are right about me not liking you back. I mean, look at the evidence. You're pushy, aggressive, stubborn…"

I hung my head. For once I didn't want to be right, so why did he have to explain it to me so logically like this? I didn't know how much longer I could listen to this without breaking down into tears.

He continued anyway. "Hard-headed, bullyish, a terribly messy eater, and," he said, pausing for a second. Oh boy. Here it comes. "Completely and totally wrong."

_What? _

"What?" I said, lifting my head to stare at him. He took my chin in between his thumb and forefinger and gazed into my eyes, or maybe he was gazing into my soul. I wasn't sure which. Hell, my brain wasn't even working well enough to remember how to breathe at the time.

"I love you Sam," he said, and with that he leaned forward and put his soft lips on mine. For a moment I couldn't move, but then I kissed him back, and I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. For some reason I couldn't get this one word out of my head the whole time:

FIREWORKS.

We finally pulled apart and I looked into his eyes and spoke the words I'd wanted to speak to him for so long. "I love you too Dork."

**Well looks like Seddie FINALLY happened. Yay! Now we just have to convince Dan to make that happen on the show. Let's see, we'll need handcuffs, a rope, a bandana, some crushed ice, a laptop, clothespins, a few very dirty socks, chocolate syrup, and a BIG tub of butter. Who's with me?**

**Looks like there's only going to be ONE MORE CHAPTER; an epilogue of sorts. I'm kinda sad it's almost over [insert virtual tear], but the GOOD news is I will DEFINITELY be writing some more Seddie stories. I've already posted two Seddie one-shots, so if you haven't read them go to my profile and check them out! ****5, 4, 3, 2**** and ****iBet****.** **Read them! Do it for the children! I already have a couple of other ideas for both some more one-shots and some multi-chapter stories, so look for those soon! See you soon for the last chapter of iFind Out the Truth About My Dad!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Well well well, we're finally here at the last chapter of the story! I'm sad that I'm done now, but happy I stuck with it all this time. I couldn't have done it without all the support and suggestions I got from my lovely reviewers. You guys are awesome! I hope that if and when (most likely WHEN) I write another story I will hear from some of you again. :) I would thank you all by name right now, but unfortunately I am far too lazy for that. **

**I'd like to mention CandyRox12, who was the first person to know both ringtones mentioned in the last chapter. For those of you who didn't know, the first was Accidentally In Love by the Counting Crows and the second was Running Away by AM. Way to go CandyRox. I present you with this virtual bag of nothing! A lot of you got one or both of these, but CandyRox12 was the first, so the rest of you are losers! JUST KIDDING! **

**Okay. So if you remember, in the VERY FIRST CHAPTER there was a small part at the beginning where it's Freddie's POV while he's doing SOMETHING and then it flashes back 5 years. This story has been set in 5-years-ago-land, and now it's back! Just letting you know, so people who read the first chapter a LONG time ago won't get confused. You may want to go back and reread it, though I think everything will still make since even if you never read it in the first place. Oh, except that I revealed the SECRET OF LIFE in there. NOW I bet you want to read it. (P.S.: For the people who remember the first chapter and don't remember the part about the secret of life, that's because I lied about it being there. I don't know the secret of life. I don't even know the crabby patty secret formula. Shhh! Don't tell the others!)**

**Also, on my profile I will be putting up links to what people were wearing in this chapter. What were they wearing that was so important you ask? Well you'll just have to read and find out!**

**And one final disclaimer: I, abracadabra94, own NOTHING. Seriously. That's why I'm sitting here naked in this internet café. I don't even own this disclaimer. I stole it from a story I read a long time ago and I won't give credit to the author because I don't remember who they were or what their story was about. I just liked the quote. And I'm pretty sure they said they stole it too. So if it's yours, sorry I stole from you. Oh, and here's your 20 bucks back too. I think all my other disclaimers have been original though. Or were they? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA…**

**Freddie's POV**

_**Present (5 years after last chapter)**_

It's hard to believe that your life can change so dramatically in such a short amount of time, but if that barely-over-a-month-long incident that happened five years ago hadn't happened, I wouldn't be standing here today in this tuxedo – this stiff, uncomfortable, way-too-hot-to-be-wearing-on-hot-summer-days-like-today tuxedo – on what I knew would be the best day of my life.

"You ready?" said a voice behind me.

"No," I told the voice truthfully as I turned around to face him. "It's not like she's going to make this any easier on me than she's made anything else we've ever done together. I don't think I'll ever be anywhere close to ready."

My father laughed. "I don't think anyone could be if they were in your position. She's certainly not like other girls."

"No, she's not," I said, fully aware of the goofy grin on my face. "But I wouldn't be doing this if she was. I love her Dad."

"Well no duh Fredweird," said a different voice off to the side.

"Sam!" I said, trying my best not to look at her. "You know I'm not supposed to see you yet!"

"So? I was hungry," she says, reaching into my pocket to pull out the beef jerky I had put there for later without her knowing, or so I thought. "Besides, I don't believe in dumb superstitions."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Then why are you wearing a robe over your dress so I can't see it?"

"Maybe I was cold!" she said, taking a bite of jerky.

"Sam, it's June. And we live in Seattle, not Antarctica."

"Whatever Frednub," she said, rolling her eyes at me. "Oh chiz," she said, looking at my watch. "I've got to go!"

"Yeah, we know." She stuck her tongue out at me before taking the whole package of jerky with her and walking away. Yep, she's definitely not like other girls.

"Hey, have you two seen Sam?" a man in a wheelchair said as he came up to us.

"Yeah, you just missed her," said my dad. "Don't worry, she got herself some beef jerky and is on her way back to where she's supposed to be.

Mr. Puckett let out a laugh. "Of course she had to come get beef jerky. Hey," he lowered his voice, "You don't think she knows anything do you?"

"Nah," I reassured. "She seemed a little skeptical at first when she saw the blanket over your legs, but I think she was too preoccupied with other thoughts to really think about it."

"Good." He glanced at his watch. "Well it looks like it's just about time. Good luck Freddie. You're going to need it." And with that he wheeled away.

_**5 minutes later**_

I looked beside me at Spencer, and he gave me a reassuring nod as the musician started playing a soft song on his electric guitar (yes electric guitar; Sam had insisted that it was way better than a stupid organ) and my little cousin Stephanie began to walk down the aisle. Of course, being the barely-eight-year-old girl that she was, she went a little overboard with throwing the petals and her little basket was empty before she made it half way to her spot.

Next came Carly, grinning ear to ear. She smiled at me as she walked, but as soon as she took her spot she looked to the guests and her eyes connected with Gibby's. She looked completely happy as she gazed at her at her fiancée, and Gibby smiled proudly back at her. Carly was followed by Sasha, Spencer's wife whose flowy lavender dress just barely revealed the small bump on her stomach, and Melanie, who I had to convince Sam to invite. Thank goodness for Fat Cakes and bacon. And whoever came up with the concept of bribery.

Finally it was time, and the doors opened revealing Sam in her beautiful white dress. It took my breath away a little to see her like that. I was a little surprised that she hadn't decided to do something crazy and wear electric green or neon orange, but then again her dress wasn't exactly typical. The top of the strapless dress was fairly normal, but the skirt was, well…I don't know exactly what it was. It was…layered? I guess. I don't know how to describe it except that she looked beautiful in it, and that despite the fact that it was girly it had a certain Sam-ness to it.

Sam's dress may've been somewhat normal, but I think a lot of people were shocked to see her sitting there, coming down the aisle…in a wheelchair. Sam had insisted that if her father couldn't walk her down the aisle, she just wouldn't walk. Although maybe she just said that because she didn't like to walk. I wouldn't be surprised.

Sam and her father were only three or four feet down the aisle when suddenly Mr. Puckett stopped and started to press his arms against the chair, slowly but surely lifting himself up. Sam stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him in wonder as he stood up straight and the blanket fell off his legs, revealing…legs. Two legs. Two WHOLE legs. He took a small step forward. Then another. Then another. Sam's eyes started to water, and she forgot about her "Pucketts don't cry in public" rule as she hopped up from her own chair and hugged her father tight, tears spilling onto his shoulder.

"You got a new leg," she choked.

"I noticed," he said. They both chuckled lightly and pulled apart. Nothing more was said between them. Nothing more needed to be said. The fact that he was WALKING her down the aisle said enough.

After what seemed like forever she was finally at my side. "'Sup dork," she whispered, wiping the tears she had shed a moment before off her face and then wiping her wet hand on my sleeve. I rolled my eyes and smiled at her.

"Nice to see you too Sam."

"Ahem," said T-Bo, or as he asked we call him, Mr. Bo. Jeez, you get a license to marry people off and suddenly you're too good to share a name with an emotional football player. **(A/N: Heh, get it? Tebow? Don't worry Sam! Tebow cried in public too! Sorry. That was a little mean. No offence to Tim Tebow. I don't especially like football, or sports in general for that matter, but I've got to admit he's a great football player. Does ANYONE here know what I'm talking about?)**

"We are gathered here today to…"

"Yeah, yeah," Sam interrupted. "We all know why we're here. Just get on with it."

Mr. Bo looked a little offended but did as Sam wished (which was probably smart if he valued his health) and quickly skimmed over the rest until he got to the vows. We had decided to write our own and I had spent a long time on mine. I just hoped it was good enough to please Sam.

"Sam," I started. "When I first met you I thought I hated you. But then I started to get to know you better and better…and I still thought I hated you. But after a while, I started to get this feeling in my stomach whenever you were around, and I knew it could only be one thing. Gas." Everyone laughed and Sam punched my arm playfully. "But when that turned out not to be the case, I blamed the feeling on the fear that at any moment you might go ballistic and kill me. And of course that still isn't completely impossible or even unlikely." The guests laughed harder. "But as time went on, I started to realize something. I tried to ignore it, but when you go on a journey across the country in search of your supposedly dead fathers, well, let's just say the extra time I was spending with you didn't help to keep my mind off the subject.

"I'm not exactly sure when I realized that I loved you. All I know is that when I finally figured it out I went from being scared to being absolutely terrified." More laughs. "Who knew what you might do to me if you found out? But I guess I finally decided that nothing you could do to me could possibly be as bad as never getting to be with you." Awws were heard coming from all the guests. "I'm so honored that you would let me spend the rest of my life with you, and I promise I'll always do my best to make you happy. I love you Sam."

Sam's mouth turned into that little smirk of hers. Not the slightly evil one that everyone usually saw. The one only I ever saw. The one that meant she was trying really hard not to break out into a giant grin over my sappiness. I loved that smirk.

Next it was Sam's turn. I folded up the sheet of paper I had so carefully written and put it back in my pocket. Sam didn't have a speech written down. She told me she was going to memorize it. I think that was Sam-talk for she was going to wing it and see what happened.

"Dear Fredward," she said, and the smirk changed to the evil one that I also, for some weird reason, loved. "You are a nerdy, geeky, dorky, stupid little nub." I saw several mouths drop a little, mostly from the people in my not so immediate family, but I was only surprised I hadn't seen this coming. "But," said Sam, "You're _my _stupid little nub. And don't you ever forget it." Yep, that's my Sam for you. She didn't say anything else, and it was clear enough to me she didn't intend to. Not that she could've said anything else had she even wanted to, because as soon as those words left her mouth my lips took their place, and we kissed each other passionately.

"Wait!" said Mr. Bo. "I wasn't done! It's not time for that part yet!" We ignored him. "Ah, screw it," he sighed, defeated. "I'm just gonna pretend you both said I do, and if you disagree, just say...say 'I don't.' Alright?" We ignored him still. He nodded wearily. "Then I guess by the power vested in me by the marriage division of Groovy Smoothies Inc., I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may…continue to ignore me."

After a few minutes Sam and I finally broke apart and ran out of the Groovy Smoothie, which had been rented out for the day and elaborately decorated just for us. Guess who's idea that had been? We arrived in the parking lot and Sam hopped into my truck. I took my place in the driver's seat just as she yelled "Let's go to the Cheesecake Warehouse! Momma's hungry Benson."

"Sam, we have to be at the reception soon! We can't just ditch." Sam raised her eyebrows at me and I sighed. "As you wish Princess Benson."

"Well that's a stupid name," she said, though she was smiling. She propped her lime green converse up on the dash board (why am I not surprised?) and let out a sigh.

"What?" I asked.

"What what?"

"What's up with the sighing?"

"Just thinking," she said. "I still kind of hate to admit it, but I really do love you Nub."

I laughed. "I love you too Sam," I said as she turned on the radio and a song I hadn't heard in years through the speakers.

_Come on, come on. Jump a little higher. __Come on, come on__. __If you feel a little lighter__. __Come on, come on__. __We were once __upon a time in love…_

_We're accidentally in love. __Accidentally in love. Accidentally in love. Accidentally in love. Accidentally in love…_

**T**_H_**E**_ E_**N**_D__**.**_

**Peace. Love. Seddie. :) **


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